Ocean Eyes
by MidnightKitti22
Summary: Sequel to The Storm, the White, the Blizzard. Five years have passed, but not everything is resolved. Blizzard is still trapped with her so-called destiny from the ordeal on Depth Island, and when she decides to visit Hiccup, everything gets worse. When things prove to be irreversible, Hiccup and Blizzard know they must stop it – if they can live long enough to do so.
1. Prologue

**Hiya everybody!**

**So, here it is! My promised sequel to "The Storm, the White, the Blizzard"! I really hope this turns out good, and I really hope you all like it.**

**Thanks to everyone who liked my first story. It means a lot to me.**

**Due to FanFiction cutting my original summary short, I put the full one here:**

_Five years have passed, but not everything is resolved. Blizzard is still trapped with her so-called destiny from the ordeal on Depth Island – and when she decides to visit Hiccup, everything gets worse. The storm she and Hiccup encountered five years ago wasn't anywhere near the battle up ahead, and as things spiral into irreversible places, Hiccup and Blizzard believe they might be able to stop it – if they can live long enough to do so. Sequel to "The Storm, the White, the Blizzard"._

**This is sort of a mix-of-genres story. I didn't really know what to put for the labels, so if anyone thinks I should change them, just tell me. **

**NOTICE: Do not read this story if you have not seen the movie HTTYD 2 or have not read the Storm, the White, the Blizzard. It will either have spoilers or make absolutely no sense!**

_**The beginning is a briefing before the whole story really starts five years later . . .**_

The last time Hiccup ever saw Blizzard or Dawny was when they flew off to Shady Isle, approximately three hours away, and away from the inhabited Berk. Blizzard (blood-red hair, deep blue eyes, very pale complexion and unhealthily skinny) had done her best to put all the paranoia that haunted her on Depth Island away, shoving them in that drawer of memories that would never be opened. Dawny (white/iridescent scales, beautiful silver eyes) did the same.

The two became expert swimmers, diving down to catch fish for food and both became closer as friends. Blizzard continued talking, keeping her voice healthy-sounding and used, so it wouldn't be so croaky and rough as it was when she first met Hiccup. She refused to let her Spirit-filled dreams – that _still_ occurred, even after the downfall of Shadow – bring her down. Dawny was always there to help her if that happened.

Years passed, and things changed. Blizzard never forgot Hiccup and Toothless, since they were the ones to change her life, but as she grew older she realized that she wouldn't be welcomed fully to Berk, being an outsider. Hiccup was the son of a chief –this was known due to a dream Blizzard once had – and was probably very busy at the age of . . . what, nineteen? Twenty? Blizzard was just nearing the age of nineteen herself. It had been exactly five years ago that him and Toothless came into her life.

Though she wondered about Berk more often after she saw a very peculiar sight not too long ago . . .

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Ocean Eyes**

_**prologue**_

The eighteen-going-on-nineteen girl leaned her back on her faithfully loyal dragon companion. Said dragon lifted her head sleepily, her gaze questioning her rider.

"I was just thinking," the girl sighed, looking up at the sky, where the stars were slowly fading to replace the brilliant colors of the sunrise. "Wasn't it five years ago that we first met them? If the dates that we've kept are correct, then it's our little anniversary tonight."

Dawny clicked happily, and her blood red-haired friend giggled. "If you want, we can go swimming farther out tomorrow. Or, today, I guess, since it's already dawn." It was the normal routine for the duo to go swimming, but it wasn't too often that they swam out-of-sight from Shady Isle. "But . . ."

Her eyes became airy, and the silver-eyed dragon hummed in questioning. "D'you remember that sight we saw, maybe a week ago?" Dawny ducked her head in what looked like shame. Blizzard gave a tiny smile. "I know you didn't like that dragon. I didn't either, honestly. He had a weird . . ." she frowned. "I don't know what to call it. It was all just weird."

Dawny clicked in agreement. Blizzard sighed, nestling her back further into the crook of Dawny's figure, since the dragon had curled around her beloved rider. "That dragon was headed away from Berk_._ I wonder if it had gone there." Blizzard shuddered, making a loose strand of red hair fall out of its hairdo and rest on her cheek. Her slightly-less-pale hand brushed up and tucked the red strand behind her ear.

"I just think it's strange," Blizzard finally said after a pause. "And I can't help but worry about them. I feel . . . like something happened. Something _bad._

"But at the same time I felt something good. Last night I had a dream." that was natural, since Blizzard always had strange dreams, so Dawny gave her a deadpan look, making the redhead's eyes flash in mock annoyance.

"Hey, it was even more different this time!" she defended herself playfully. However, her amiable manner slowly faded as she looked to the quickly lighting sky. "I felt like I was in the mind of someone on Berk. I saw . . ." she shuddered. "I saw . . . everything being attacked. I saw through the eyes of someone . . . I think . . . I think it was _Toothless."_

Dawny's eyes widened as her head bolted up from its rested position, obviously terrified for her only dragon friend. "He's okay, I think," the blue-eyed girl said quickly. "But I also think something happened on Berk . . ." her eyes trailed off in the direction of where Berk would be from Shady Isle. She then groaned. "I can't believe I'm worrying so much!"

She tilted her head to look straight above her and rest her head on Dawny's back, but the strange feeling on the back of her head stopped her. She grumbled. "I feel like growing my hair out was a bad idea," she muttered, reaching up and feeling the not-so-tight bun on the back of her head. "Remind me why I did it in the first place?"

Dawny gave her a smug look, making Blizzard push her head away to break the gaze. "Stop," she commanded, a smile growing on her lips. "Don't you mock me, Dawn's Frost . . ."

Dawny chirped like a bird as if to tease her rider, making the girl finally break and laugh. "Okay, okay," she said in between her giggles. "So what if I wanted to look more like a girl? I _am_ one, so get used to it!"

Dawny hummed in amusement. Blizzard pulled at her sleeve and changed the subject. "I actually like this a lot better than that raggedy old outfit I used to have," she said, feeling the softness of the wool. "I mean, now I actually have more _clothing._ Courtesy of thievery," she added mischievously. "But at least those stupid people are gone now."

Both girls hated the people that arrived on the ships a while ago. They had left when they realized some of their stuff was being stolen, but they had been a huge nuisance and Blizzard had desperately fought to keep the duo's existence a secret. Several times it was almost revealed, but they thanked the skies above that it wasn't.

The shirt Blizzard wore was a light gray cotton shirt, with sleeves a bit too long while the torso was a bit too big. She didn't care; it was better than her old worn-out sad-excuse-for-a-shirt that she had when she was fourteen.

She was wearing a wool skirt, her normal sleepwear nowadays. It reached her mid-calf and was colored black. When she finally got up to start doing things for the day, she would change into her pants – also made of wool, as she didn't have too many options when she stole from the ship those blasted people were on.

"But going back to what we saw going away from Berk," Blizzard said, seeing the very last star glimmering in the sky, "I know we agreed not to go to there, but now . . . I just feel like we should at least take a look around. To make sure they're okay."

Dawny clicked four times in half-agreement.

"We won't be seen, promise," the girl added. "We can't be seen. We'll fly up high enough in the clouds so we won't be seen, then we can land outside the village. If I can just get a _glimpse_ of Hiccup and Toothless . . ." she stopped talking, looking hopefully at her good friend, who was surveying the sky.

"And don't you go on telling me you aren't worried too," Blizzard added, smirking, nudging her dragon with her shoulder. "You think of Toothless like a brother, and Hiccup like a best friend." when her dragon gave her another stony _are-you-serious_ look and she threw her hands up defensively.

"I never said _I_ didn't!" she retorted, a smile still etched onto her face. "Besides, we haven't seen them in five years . . ."

A comfortable silence followed, but it was still edged with the saying that Blizzard left out.

_I wonder how much they've changed._

"I wonder if they remember us," she said instead. "I mean, obviously we do, since you and me wouldn't be friends if it weren't for them, but still. Their lives weren't changed after they met us. They just returned to Berk and lived like they normally did." Blizzard looked at the horizon and squinted, seeing the sun crawl just a millimeter over the sparkling ocean.

Dawny and Blizzard looked at each other, eyes unblinking. "Your eyes are super pretty," Blizzard said affectionately, rubbing the UnderIce's chin. "If it weren't for my horrible drawing skills I'd for sure draw you."

Blizzard had realized long ago – meaning when she lived with her mother – that she was terrible at drawing. Perhaps if she tried now, she would be better, but she had nothing to draw with or _on._

"I wish we had a drawing of right now," she said wistfully. "You, me, on this huge ledge above the quiet ocean, with the sun rising and color across the sky." as Blizzard turned back to look at Shady Isle's forest, she sighed again.

"So . . . ?" she asked, stretching her arms up and yawning. "What do you say to a visit to Berk tonight? We'll be as silent and swift as a Night Fury," she added jokingly, making Dawny blink in humor as well, before she looked out at the ocean with a rather forlorn expression. Blizzard mirrored this for a moment, before standing upwards.

"I'm sick of this," she said, pulling out the piece of rope keeping her hair up. Instantly the thin layer of hair fell down to her shoulders, wavy and curled from being up in a bun so long. It was the same deep blood-red color as it was five years ago, except it looked brighter in the dawning sunlight. "I'm cutting off my hair," she announced to the white-scaled dragon, who was slowly getting to her feet and stretching her elegantly-curved wings. "It's been bothering me ever since I grew it out, and it's just been getting in my way. I'm going back to my old hairstyle." she smiled happily as she began walking leisurely down the slope that led to the forest and their camp. "C'mon, Dawny," she said, bare feet against the green-brown grass. "I'm gonna cut my hair and change, and then we'll go swimming!"

Her cheer echoed off the cliffside as she walked closer to the half-decayed forest that had once been lush and beautiful. Dawny started dashing after her as the girl picked up running speed, jumped over a fallen tree, threw her arms up in the air and yowled at the top of her lungs to the sky.

_"Hiccup and Toothless, here we cooome!"_

~˜~ § ~˜~

_**-Mitti**_


	2. Chapter I

**First chapter is here~!**

**Yaay now we get to see what happens! Thanks for reading, by the way!**

**-Mitti**

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Ocean Eyes**

_**Chapter I**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

"Dawny, do you see it yet?"

The aforementioned dragon gave an annoyed growl. She had been flying for about three hours now, and with Blizzard being impatient when it came to things like this, she had been asking if the UnderIce's keen vision had spotted her old friends' home again and again _and again._

Blizzard shrugged defensively, before settling herself down on Dawny's back, looking up at the stars. "Sorry, sorry," she said. "I guess I'm just nervous. And excited. Ugh, and just terrified."

Dawny gave the blood redhead a snort in response. Blizzard put her hands over her face, trying to contain the churning feelings inside her stomach that made it twist into a million knots. Her throat was feeling rather dry, even though she had taken a drink of fresh water before departing for their journey.

"My hair feels better, though," she murmured absentmindedly, feeling the short red locks of hair. It had been restored to its former style; short, choppy, and messy, with the bangs a bit long on one side. Blizzard had been too lazy to fix it, since she didn't care anyways unless it got in her way. "D'you like it, Dawny?"

A single click.

"Aren't you supportive," Blizzard teased, sitting up again and patting her dragon's head. "But you probably can't see me in this lighting, anyway. Also 'cuz I'm behind you."

Dawny gave a deadpanned _no-duh_ grunt, making her rider giggle. "Sorry, sorry," she said, repeating her same words with the not-too-apologetic tone from earlier. A short, comfortable silence ensued for a moment, leaving the two thinking in their own thoughts.

Blizzard wore the same shirt from that morning, but had changed from her black skirt to a pair of loose – due to the large size – cotton pants that had a flare style to them. Unfortunately for the blue-eyed girl, they were far too long for her legs. To fix this, she had cut off the fabric so it only reached her mid-calf, just like her skirt. Her belt was a worn-out piece of rope, tied securely above her hips.

"Oh yeah. Dawny?" the pale girl asked. Her dragon squeaked, letting her rider know that she was listening.

"I was thinking 'bout how we should approach Berk, and . . . maybe we should start at that place where we first left Hiccup and Toothless. I can go closer to the village if you don't want to, and besides, someone spotting a silhouette of a person won't be a strange as them spotting a mystery dragon." Dawny blinked, still tuned in to Blizzard but not exactly ready to make an agreement.

"You can watch from a little ways away," the girl added. "If I get in trouble, you can swoop down and we can get outta there before anything else happens."

In response, the iridescent-scaled dragon gave a low hum, as if she didn't like this. Blizzard hung her head, slightly exasperated but understanding, when a stray un-cut bang of dark hair fell into her sight. Since she hadn't been too focused when cutting her hair, she was expecting a few extra pieces that were too long for her taste.

Quick as a flash, Blizzard's mirror shard appeared in her hand from what looked like out of nowhere. She grabbed the bang roughly, held it out as far as it would go, and swiped the sharp object upward. Had it been any other person they would have been nervous over cutting themselves, due to the closeness of the blade.

This, however, did not perturb the blue-eyed girl. She couldn't care less if she scraped herself accidentally; blood had never made her queasy. Also, she was never really positive that the mirror shard could inflict a life-threatening wound anymore. It had dulled over the last five years.

The chopped-off hair floated downwards onto Dawny's head and back, making her twitch and shake. This threw Blizzard around a bit, before she quickly said, "It's just my hair, Dawny! I'll brush it off."

Naturally the UnderIce had already accomplished that. "Oh," Blizzard said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes and laugh at her dragon's reaction – and herself. "Sorry," she added as she brought her left leg up and pushed her pant-leg back, revealing something similar to a leg pouch on her upper calf, just hidden by her outfit. In all reality, it was some faded blue fabric wrapped around her leg several times, allowing places for items such as mirror shards to be hidden. "I'm just antsy, and chopping my hair off always helps with that," she then added jokingly. Slipping the mirror shard into the hidden place, she grumbled, "I seriously need a better place for my shard and dagger."

Dawny made a sound that was similar to chortling in a dragon's language, which elicited a small chuckle from her rider as well before she brought up her right leg and did the same as the first, revealing an identical fabric around her other leg. In-between two layers of cloth on her left leg was a dagger that was perfectly straight with no fanciness whatsoever. It was now accompanied by her classic mirror shard. Her other "dagger" – if it could be called such – was actually a silver letter opener and had been placed in the cloth on her right leg. It had been snagged from the strange ship that Blizzard had stolen so much from.

"I know. I feel silly carrying around these sometimes, but you never know . . ." Dawny understood those words; what Blizzard was saying was that she was paranoid. "I still wonder if something bad happened to Berk after that huge white dragon. I know I'm terrible at using a weapon, or even _fighting _for that matter . . ." a silly grin appeared on the blood redhead's face before she laughed. "But hey, I could attack somebody!" she said sarcastically.

Dawny hummed, but it sounded like a _hmph._ Blizzard brushed her pant-legs back down again, before shifting her legs back down to rest on either side of Dawny. "I'm sorry I'm making you go through this," she said solemnly, the laughter in her eyes fading. "But I won't make you do anything you don't want to."

The white-scaled dragon tilted her head, making one eye make eye contact with Blizzard's two blue irises. Her pretty silver eye was full of comfort and positiveness, making the girl feel all the more better.

"Okay then, keep your eyes peeled for –"

Of course, as she was distracted, it appeared.

Blizzard gave an audible gasp. "There it is, Dawny!" she said, her voice dropping to an excited whisper. "That's Berk! That's . . . that's . . ."

The island wasn't too far away, but already the blood redhead had realized something was wrong. The light she remembered from five years ago was the most common light around; whitish from afar, looking more reddish-orange closer. Torches certainly were hung around Berk; Blizzard could see them, but something was off with the other lights . . .

Dawny felt her rider tense, but continued flying towards the island, now apprehensive.

"D-Dawny," Blizzard started, her voice low. "The whole island looks like a teal ocean . . ."

And, as the duo got closer, they realized with clenching stomachs that the light wasn't turquoise, it was the light _reflecting off _of the turquoise.

"Woah," Blizzard breathed, marveling at the beauty, before Dawny gave a series of clicks and her fear returned.

"Dawny . . . something happened here. Something . . ."

Blizzard swallowed, nervous about trying to find out why there was aqua-colored ice penetrating the island, and as she got closer the blood redhead realized that some of the deformed ice spikes had splinters of wood in them – obviously remnants of houses. Terror tightened its grip on her.

"Something _bad._ Dawny, _what in the name of the spirits happened here?!"_

~˜~ § ~˜~

In her eyes, today had been a fantastic day. And for once, no sarcasm included.

Hiccup had been recovering from the harsh blow of his father's death, beginning to perform even more like a full-time chief. Everyone sympathized with his situation, but at least it was not all doom-and-gloom; Drago was gone, along with his Bewilderbeast, and Valka had returned to Berk.

Astrid couldn't help but smile.

The blonde was doing a scout of the island, making sure nothing was suspicious. After being so shaken-up with the attack, the people of Berk most likely appreciated the extra patrols. It was highly unlikely that Drago could try something after only a few weeks, but still . . .

You could never be too prepared.

Stormfly was flying at an amiable pace above the brightly-lit Berk. The stars were glittering majestically in the night sky, making the whole atmosphere seem peaceful. Astrid didn't push her Nadder to pick up her pace, and rather thought of the events earlier in the day; the dragon race would have been theirs, but _of course_ Hiccup had to intervene.

Though Astrid wasn't all that mad; she was feeling like an agreeable person today. The weather had been sunny, the temperature had been perfect, and people were working beautifully to repair the damage done by the ice-breathing Bewilderbeast. And the game had been thrilling as it always was, even if a certain Night Fury and rider cheated in the end.

The blue-eyed Viking patted Stormfly absentmindedly, while looking at the houses and streets. She was supposed to be on high alert, but with the relaxed aura, she couldn't help but have herself calmly eyeing the island.

Yes, today had been a good, uneventful day.

Unbeknownst to Astrid, the evening would be a little different.

~˜~ § ~˜~

"Quick," hissed the low voice to the dragon whom she was riding. "Into the forest."

Her faithful companion Dawny clicked crisply before diving full-speed towards the wooded part of the island known as Berk, turning evasively so as not to attract any eyes from the village. Her sharp movements were accurate in landing; her clawed feet hit the ground with hardly a _thud._

"Fantastic," Blizzard murmured praisingly, and the dragon straightened up proudly in response. The rider jumped off with less grace than the aforementioned; a much louder _thump_ came, despite the fact she was barefoot.

"Sorry!" she whispered quickly, as Dawny sent her an annoyed look. "Hey, I'm not all that high-and-mighty when it comes to stealth!" she defended herself in a hushed tone. "But I know enough. I'll be able to get word of Hiccup and Toothless. Or maybe I'll see 'em, who knows!"

Dawny hummed with nervousness, but Blizzard had already started cautiously walking back in the direction of the village. "Just stay out of sight," Blizzard said simply, as if it was no big deal. "I'll be careful."

The iridescent-scaled dragon didn't voice her fears, but she already sensed that with someone as clumsy and paranoid as Blizzard, in a village of total strangers and on a mission that was nothing less of idiotic, something was going to go wrong.

Now she just had to figure out _what_.

~˜~ § ~˜~

Blizzard muttered incoherently to herself as she took delicate steps toward the village, the light of which could be seen. It was weird that even _she_ didn't know what she was babbling about under her breath. Her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own.

Finally, when she was finally able to shut herself up as she stood on the very last line of trees, she kept a firm mind. _Alright, get in, get out. What could go wrong?_

The blood redhead didn't want to think about the possibilities.

Inhaling sharply, she took a wobbling foot forward and stepped out of the coverage of the trees. She immediately felt exposed, but refused to allow herself to sink back into safety – hadn't she been out of her comfort zone when fighting Shadow back in the tunnels underneath Depth Island?

Blizzard crept carefully, acutely aware of the pressure from her daggers and mirror shard on her lower legs. She once again hesitated when she reached a walkway, but pressed forward, creeping silently along the torch-lit paths of Berk.

_Where would Toothless and Hiccup stay?_ she mused, carefully examining each house she passed by – and keeping an eye out for dragons or people that could potentially spot her. _Well, Hiccup was the son of a chief, so they probably don't stay on a random house in the village . . ._

Blizzard froze when she heard some shuffling nearby, tense with fear. Not wanting to stick around to see what it was, she quickly found a hiding place – a blacksmith's, lit by a single torch on the front wall. She lithely entered it and glanced frantically around the room. It was filled with interesting trinkets, but her curious blue eyes weren't able to examine everything properly. She quickly found a small niche in the wall, hidden by other rows of equipment, in the back, and promptly hid inside.

_You're overreacting,_ Blizzard thought to herself._ Don't get so seized up. It was probably just someone passing by. I'll just have to wait until they –_

Her train of thought was quickly interrupted when footsteps suddenly echoed through the smithy, and her heart began to pound wildly. Blizzard would have loved to snarl a "Shut _UP!"_ at herself, but naturally that would complicate things.

"Forgetful boy . . ." the person was obviously a woman, from her voice. "He sent me on my way without realizing I don't know this island as'well as'I used to." something began clicking in the hider's mind, but she still kept her mouth clamped shut and herself still.

"Ah, here it is," the woman said, a smile evident in her voice. Something moved against a table, sounding somewhat heavy. Blizzard risked a look, and saw an thin, aging woman holding a metal – was it metal? she didn't know – rod in her hands and smiling at it. From the woman's expression, something was wrong; she had a glazed look to her green eyes, and her skin seemed pale – or maybe that was just the color of it. Blizzard wasn't one to judge based on looks; she had looked pretty sickly back on Depth Island, hardly eating anything and having paper-white skin . . .

The woman began making her way to the exit without another word, and something pushed Blizzard to follow her. It was a strange tugging, mainly focus on what the woman had said.

_ 'As well as I used to' . . ._

. . . What did that mean?

Blizzard then made one of the most stupidest decisions of her life – from her perspective, at least. Just as the woman had reached the pathway outside, the blood redhead wrenched herself from her hiding niche and stumbled after her, shouting out.

"W-wait!"

Blizzard kept her feet moving swiftly as she thrust herself out of the smithy and beside the woman, who had shock flashing in her green irises. The reaction wasn't exactly surprising – a strange girl had just launched out of the shadows of the blacksmith's place and in front of her. Inhaling sharply at the realization of what she had just done, Blizzard felt herself at a loss for words for a moment.

"Ah, hello," the woman said in the same kind, mellow tone, a polite smile on her lips. "Do you work for Gobber now?"

"Erm . . . y-yes." Blizzard swallowed the lump in her throat and played along with it.

The woman looked a bit lost in thought as she stared off at the torchlight that reflected off of the blue ice all around. "Ah. I've never heard of you before. Hiccup should explain things better to m–"

"Hiccup?" the blue-eyed girl couldn't help but blurt; the moment she heard the name the gears in her brain were turning at rapid speed.

The long-haired woman blinked. "Aye. Doesn't he work alongside you?" she asked as if it were obvious.

Blizzard flushed with embarrassment. "Er . . . I'm sorta new," she improvised feebly, faintly wondering if her pathetic lie was even working. "I haven't got to talk to him much." her mouth then moved on its own, and although she was the person speaking Blizzard couldn't quite grasp what she had said.

It must have been personal, though, because the woman's eyes darkened with sadness. "I'm still grieving," she admitted solemnly, but the blood redhead listening could not have been more lost. "It's hard to lose someone you love . . . now I suppose I know how he felt when he thought me to be dead."

Blizzard could only hum in agreement. Once again thinking quickly, she asked meekly, "M-may I walk with you?"

It was out-of-the-blue, but the woman smiled with a somewhat-sort of relief. "Of course," she replied, taking the leading steps down the way. "You probably don't recognize me; I'm Hiccup's mother, Valka," the woman introduced as they walked.

The blunt information made Blizzard nearly choke on air from the abrupt shock, but she forced her shoulders to not tense up as she processed this. _I didn't know Hiccup had a mom . . ._

"I-I'm . . ." Blizzard stammered nervously when the woman, Valka, gave her an expectant glance. "I'm Twig." she kept it short and simple, even if the name seemed rather strange.

"It's a pleasure, Twig," Valka said warmly, before changing the subject. "Have you seen my dragon, Cloudjumper, flying around? I expect it would be hard to miss such a big dragon flying around suddenly."

"O-oh, no," the blood redhead answered truthfully. "I-I've never kept too much of an eye up at the sky, I guess."

Valka nodded understandingly. "I suppose Berk must look so much different with all the destruction," she noted absentmindedly. "Was your house destroyed by the ice?"

Blizzard shook her head quickly, her lack of speech leading to a somewhat-awkward silence. Valka didn't seem to mind, and as they walked along the blue-eyed teen decided that she liked this woman, despite not knowing much about her. She seemed to have an aura of sadness, but if you peeled that back there was more spunk.

"So, Twig, are you friends with dragons?" Valka asked with the same friendly manner. "Cloudjumper and I go back twenty years."

"Of course!" Blizzard/Twig exclaimed brightly, nearly forgetting that she couldn't let her guard down in a foreign place such as this. "In fact, I have a dragon named–" she broke off, realizing she trapped herself into a corner until she recalled a faint memory from her past that she hadn't remembered until now.

_"And, if you could, don't give Dawny's name away either. Just say her name was 'Frost' or something."_

"Named Frost," she finished, albeit not very smoothly. "She and I met back when I was seven or so."

"How old are you now, then?"

"I'm ei – uhh . . ." how old _was_ she? She had been keeping the dates, but as far as years went . . . "Eighteen? Nineteen? Something like that," Blizzard said rather cluelessly, eliciting a tiny chuckle out of Valka.

"So you're 'round the age of Hiccup?" the pale girl nodded in response. "Aye, he hasn't said much about you, as I've said before . . . or maybe he was and I wasn't listening. My son can ramble a bit when he wants to."

Blizzard giggled. "_I'm_ the rambler," she responded. "I once drove my dragon to-the-sky with talking. She wasn't too happy with me."

Valka let out another laugh. "Dragons and humans have their differences, yet bond over both those and their similarities," she said wisely, before adding jokingly, "Though I suppose talking might be the one thing dragons can't always handle."

Now the blue-eyed girl straight-out laughed, her young-adolescent voice – despite her older-adolescent age – echoing off of the ice and houses as the unlikely duo continued walking, this time in a more comfortable silence than the last.

Yet just as Blizzard was about to say something else, a flash of white caught her eye – and made her stop dead. Only one dragon could be that color. Heart pounding, mind racing, the only clear thought she conjured up was:

_ No!_

"Twig?" Valka inquired, noticing the girl's suddenly tense behavior. The older woman stopped walking to give Blizzard a concerned-and-confused gaze. "Are you alright?"

She swallowed. "Y-yes, I'm –"

"Valka! Is that you?"

_No, no . . ._

"Who's that?" the blood redhead blurted quickly, dreading the sound of someone else's voice. The silhouette of the person appeared not too far away.

Valka squinted at the figure. "Astrid?" she asked.

Sure enough, the blonde soon appeared right in front of them. However, her gaze not on Valka, but rather piercing into Blizzard.

_No, no, no . . ._

"Who're you?" Astrid barked at the scrawnier girl, making her unconsciously flinch. Blizzard couldn't help it; Astrid was taller, leaner, and definitely stronger than her. She had a right to be afraid.

Valka now looked baffled. "You don't know one another?" she asked innocently, before she frowned, sorting everything out in her head.

Astrid then grabbed Blizzard roughly by the arm and twisted it, making the girl inhale sharply and bite her lip so as not to squeak in pain. "Are you a spy for Drago?" she snapped angrily, not willing to give any mercy to the pale girl.

Despite her situation, Blizzard sent an annoyed glare up at her interrogator. "I have no idea in the name of the skies _above_ who 'Drago' is!" she snapped, her hand discreetly reaching for her hidden dagger pressed to her lower leg. "Let me go! I'm not a spy for anyone, either!"

Just as Astrid was about to push Blizzard fully down to the ground from not getting satisfactory answers out of her, the latter whipped out her dagger and slashed it dangerously close to the blonde's hand; though she was clearly trying to avoid inflicting damage. Blizzard knew that Hiccup was very close friends with Astrid – she might even be his girlfriend – and if she even injured Astrid in the slightest she would feel immensely guilty.

"Hey!" Astrid shouted in surprise, retracting her hand. Valka stood near her, just as stunned, but Blizzard's attention was grabbed elsewhere.

There Dawny went, racing away from the three of them and off – into the heart of the village.

What was she thinking?!_ Dawny_ had been the one who was so insistent on staying hidden, and now it was _her_ racing around in plain sight for any villager to see! Where was she even _headed,_ anyways? _How could this make her rider's problems any easier?!_

"Was that a dragon?" Astrid said in an alarmed tone, her eyes narrowing with suspicion as she turned back onto the blue-eyed foreigner. "What're you up to?!"

Blizzard clenched a fist and ground her teeth, on the brink of panic.

What was she going to do now?

~˜~ § ~˜~


	3. Chapter II

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ "Was that a dragon?" Astrid said in an alarmed tone, her eyes narrowing with suspicion as she turned back to the blue-eyed foreigner. "What're you up to?!"_

_ Blizzard clenched a fist and ground her teeth, on the brink of panic._

_ What was she going to do now?_

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Ocean Eyes**

_**Chapter II**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

Blizzard growled to herself when she saw that her dramatic little entrance was starting to draw attention of the other villagers. A few children peeked their faces out at her, and with shock she realized that even the youngest gave her fearful looks. She hadn't asked Valka about what had happened here concerning the ice, since it would blow her cover, but she wanted to. What could even make the _children_ afraid of a scrawny teen like herself?

"Hold on," Valka said firmly, setting her hand on Astrid's shoulder. "What's going on? Isn't she one of your friends?"

If the situation had been less serious, it would have been amusing that Astrid and Blizzard both scoffed simultaneously before someone else called out. "She's probably an spy!" one of the more elderly men shouted from among the crowd that was growing quickly, their angry faces illuminated by the torchlight. "A spy for Drago!"

Blizzard's arm, holding the dagger, twitched with annoyance. "I have no idea who in the _worlds_ Drago is," she said dryly, repeating what she had said earlier.

"Y-you're probably lying," piped up a brave young boy near the front of the crowd, looking barely eleven years old. His face was filled with innocent anger, making the redhead's own frustrations dissolve instantly as she looked at him.

"Why would you think that?" she asked, genuine hurt seeping in her tone. She then turned to Astrid and Valka, and with a wide-eyed expression she asked, "What _happened _here?"

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ Run faster. Go faster. Faster, faster._

_ Don't think about the humans giving you stares. Don't think about anything. She needs help. _

_ Oh, Blizzard, you always get in so much trouble. Why did you have to run off and start talking with Hiccup's own mother! Doesn't that seem suspicious?!_

_ I just have to find him . . . he'll make things better . . ._

_ I'll be able to find him before the others find me . . ._

_ I hope . . ._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"What _happened_ here?!" Astrid echoed, eyes blazing. "We were _attacked,_ for your information! Now get out before _we_ attack _you!"_

Blizzard's eyes were still wide, but with terror or shock it was undecipherable. "Attacked?" she squeaked out, unconsciously taking a step backwards. Her grip tightened on the dagger she still held in her hand. She did a double-take and had her eyes graze over the crowd again.

_I've seen this before._ She inhaled sharply when she read the emotions on their faces plain as day.

_It's fear._

_ And a lot of it._

Suddenly feeling far too overwhelmed, Blizzard panicked, her face whipping to desperately look for an opening in the still-growing crowd. Valka's green eyes were narrowed with suspicion yet a strange sense of concern for the redhead, while most others – including Astrid – merely watched as she obviously began cracking.

As she began madly weaving around people – who kept shouting out at her as she shoved past them – in the direction that Dawny went, she could not help but feel miserable inside. Her _pathetically simple_ mission had been a flunk. Now what else could she do but find her dragon and fly away? It certainly wouldn't do any good to stick around here.

"Hey!" she heard Astrid call out behind her, but didn't even bother giving the blonde a glance. Rather, she found her way out of the crowd and quickly began dashing towards a small alley between two of Berk's houses. Heart thumping, she slipped through, letting the shadows engulf her and erase her from the torchlight.

But Blizzard didn't get very far away from her narrow escape before she ran headfirst into a solid block of turquoise ice.

~˜~ § ~˜~

To be truly frank, Valka had _no idea_ what in the name of Thor was going on.

One moment Hiccup had asked her to retrieve a new rod for Toothless's tail-fin, because he had forgotten it and was busy trying to plan out how to put Berk back together after the attack from Drago. Valka hadn't been particularly occupied with any task – in fact, she had been unsure what to do as the day came to a close – so when her son asked her for a favor she had happily complied.

Then, though, everything spiraled out of control.

Just as Valka had found the metal rod, a strange girl with one of the oddest appearances had jumped out of the shadows. She had _very_ tousled and disarrayed red locks, while her pale skin gave off a rather eerie glow from the torchlight that was around the village. She wore a strange outfit, the shirt hanging off of her skinny body awkwardly while the pants flared out, only reaching a bit below her knees. Her calves had blue fabric wrapped tightly around them, while a thin piece of raggedy rope was tied around her waist to keep her too-big pants up.

In fact, Valka had noted, she looked petite to begin with, but the oversized outfit just made her look all the more scrawny. She was also barefoot, with calloused heels and grimy toes. Then again, her toes weren't that different from her legs or arms – she was pretty dirty, to say the least. If she was to run across an impolite person, they would have _plenty_ of things to say about her.

Yet, all the while, she had seemed pretty normal. She claimed that she worked for Gobber – hence, Valka mused, the scruffy-looking appearance – and she _had_ known about Stoick's death. It was a touchy subject for the grieving wife, but the girl's mystical ocean-blue eyes had seemed so sympathetic and understanding with a strange underlining of wiseness that Valka was able to respond without her voice cracking or her eyes tearing up.

Then, the girl named Twig – the name fit her scrawny self, ironically – and she had run into Astrid. Valka had always been fond of the compassionate yet tough blonde, but when Astrid had snapped at Twig and declared that the redhead was most likely a spy, Valka had felt surprisingly shocked. Especially when Twig lashed out with a glinting dagger.

Then, after Twig had her mini panic attack and dashed out, Valka had been rooted to the spot before Astrid started in pursuit. Telling the rest of the villagers to stay calm, the older woman followed, just able to catch Astrid's blonde braid disappearing behind a small break in-between two houses. Green eyes swimming with confusion, she walked into the shadows as well.

By the time she arrived she was able to take in the whole scene.

Twig was swaying precariously on her bare feet, Astrid standing not too far away, an uncertain expression on her face. A spike of the Bewilderbeast's aquamarine ice stood in their path, and the pale girl had undoubtedly slammed herself right into it.

Valka hurriedly went to stand beside Astrid, hands tensed in front of her as if ready to catch the foreign girl, should she fall. "What happened?" she asked both of them, but not only referring to the injury – to the whole scenario back there as well.

Twig turned her eyes to the two as if she hadn't noticed they were there before. "I . . . I-I c-can't . . . can't s-see . . ." she mumbled, her dagger slipping out of her hand and falling to the ground. It was then that Valka noticed that her eyes had gone out-of-focus, while blood the exact color of her hair was dripping down the side of her nose. "A-Astrid," she then stammered, making the blonde inhale sharply. "I-I – I'm s-so . . . sor – sorry . . . I din' wanna cause an . . . any t-trouble . . ."

She then tipped backwards suddenly, her back and head slamming into the ground so hard that Valka winced. Astrid showed her surprise through another intake of breath.

"A-are you alright?!" Valka finally exclaimed, kneeling down beside the fallen bleeding girl in concern.

Her eyes didn't open. "J-just lemme see . . . see Toothl's an' Hiccup an' I'll be'un m-my w . . . w-way . . ." her voice trailed off to a painful sigh, before her body relaxed and she was knocked into unconsciousness.

Sharing a stunned glance with Astrid, Valka believed that this might be one of the strangest situations she had ever gotten into.

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ The blonde woman sighed. "She is no longer awake. Her head injury will allow her to regain consciousness only in a few hours or so."_

_ Her shadowed companion, face hidden, sighed as well. "Must she really get herself into all this trouble?" he asked in an annoyed and formal tone._

_ Sharp greenish-yellow eyes cut an irritated glance at the companion of the woman. "They are her friends," she insisted. "And her dragon's as well."_

_ He scoffed. "Has she forgotten our warnings?"_

_ "_Our_ warnings?" now it was the woman who gave a scornful look. "They were _your_ warnings. I wanted nothing to do with it."_

_ "Well, you _have_ always been too involved," her friend said a little snidely, before giving a glance at the small crystal orb of water that the woman was peering over, looking intensely at it. The air around them was made of thick though peaceful fog. "It was your fault in the first place that she met them, remember?"_

_ The blonde-haired woman gave the man a nasty glare, making him back off. "Alright, fine, sorry," he said, not sounding too apologetic. "But just think about your actions, Leaf. You might always be interested in other things but remember, those worlds aren't for you. You have a job now, and you can't misuse it."_

_ "I won't," she muttered back, her eyes grazing him once again as he turned to walk away. "And for the record," she called out louder just before he disappeared, "I made her much happier when she met them. It brought her such a happier life, and it helped her defeat Shadow, too. Besides, had I not helped her ribcage heal faster from it's injury, who knows what would have happened."_

_ The man gave a tiny smile. "Well, she could not have fallen to the hands of that creature anyway." _

_ Without another word he walked into the fog, erasing himself from the blonde's sight. Sighing, she looked back at her water orb, forlornly thinking over what he had said._

_ "She _is_ so much happier," she whispered to herself. "I know it was wrong, but . . ."_

_ She sighed._

_ "I just could not help myself. Oh, Earth, you _have_ to understand. My journal pushed the boy to go search for the dragon that she knew . . . and it should not worry you, because she never saw that one drawing of you and her . . ."_

_ Trailing off, Leaf went back to intensely gazing at the water orb without another verbal distraction._

~˜~ § ~˜~


	4. Chapter III

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ She then tipped backwards suddenly, her back and head slamming into the ground so hard that Valka winced. Astrid also showed her surprise, even though it was through a simple intake of breath._

_ "A-are you alright?" Valka finally asked, kneeling down beside the fallen bleeding girl in concern._

_ Her eyes didn't open. "J-just lemme see . . . see Toothl's an' Hiccup an' I'll be'un m-my w . . . w-way . . ." her voice trailed off to a painful sigh, before her body relaxed and she was knocked into unconsciousness._

_ After sharing a stunned glance with Astrid, Valka believed that this might be one of the strangest situations she had ever gotten into._

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Ocean Eyes**

_**Chapter III**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

"Hicc – wh–!"

"AH!"

"Hiccup? Oh – sorry!"

"I-it's alright . . . I dozed off . . ."

_"Hiccup! We have a bit o' a problem, lad!"_

"Gobber? Astrid, what's –"

"It's a _mess_. Just . . . come outside."

Hiccup sent his girlfriend a baffled look as she motioned toward the doorway that she had entered from only a moment ago, right before she tripped over his leg in the dim lighting. He seemed to have let the fire die as he nodded off . . .

Astrid noticed his brief hesitation and, not in the mood to be patient, took his arm and pulled him to the door. Still curious, Hiccup kept silent until he saw the commotion outside.

How had he slept through _this?_

There was a throng of people surrounding his house, all pressed close together and muttering amongst one another. Valka and Gobber stood closer to the home that everyone had gathered around, backs facing Astrid and Hiccup as they walked out into the night air. Immediately the buzz of bemused comments subsided, leaving an uncanny silence in its wake.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asked, tone somewhat breathless from surprise. His blonde companion didn't answer; instead she tugged him over to where Valka and Gobber were huddling. Valka turned first.

"Mom, what's . . ." he trailed off, hoping she could understand his confusion.

"We don' really know," Valka admitted, her own voice rather puzzled. "A girl came here, an' she got a nasty hit to the head. Astrid's never seen her around before, an' everyone believed she was a spy for Drago."

Hiccup heard some bitterness in his mother's tone at the name, but he didn't worry himself over it as he tried to peer over Gobber's broad shoulders and Valka's slimmer ones. "Is she alright?" he asked. "How'd she get hit?"

"Aye, ran into the ice, did she," Gobber said, shuffling out of the way and facing Hiccup. "I've been tryin' to stop the bleedin', but it won't seem to stop. I've sent Fishlegs to get Gothi."

It was then that the young chief caught sight of the supposed-spy.

His widened eyes and stuttered inhale gave his shock away.

Lo and behold, laying on the ground was a very pale and thin blood-redhead, her eyes peacefully closed despite the blood that pulsed from her forehead and trickled down her face like a river. She was dressed in gray clothing with blue wraps on her legs, and her dark eyelashes covered her bright ocean-blue eyes – not to mention she didn't look the cleanest, but nevertheless Hiccup recognized her. She might have been dressed differently, but her red hair was just as it was five years ago – sans for being a bit longer in length – and her sweet oval-shaped face was identical to the one when she and Hiccup first met.

For a moment panic tugged at Hiccup's mind. He expertly wove around Gobber and his mother to kneel beside the inert girl, and was relieved to find that her chest rose and fell slightly, indicating that she was alive.

Before anyone could question his odd behavior, Toothless jumped down from his spot on the roof. After noticing that Hiccup was dozing the Night Fury had simply left him alone, wanting to sleep as well. Once the commotion had jostled him awake, he had watched with a wary eye until he caught sight of the so-called "spy" as well.

Blizzard.

"Toothless," Hiccup began, turning to his dragon with mixed emotions in his eyes. Still, he couldn't keep the childish excitement out of his voice when he exclaimed, "It's Blizzard!"

The black-scaled dragon, ignoring the fact that he was supposed to be the Alpha and act cool and collected, bounded forward, namesake smile appearing on his face. His ecstasy caused even more befuddlement to the Berkians and their dragons.

Hiccup tentatively brushed Blizzard's bangs back – already damp with blood that went unnoticed from its color – and peered at the injury she had received. Everyone on Berk knew where the lingering ice was, and no one had gotten hurt in a week because of it.

"Hiccup, you know her?" Astrid asked in surprised disbelief.

Valka turned to her. "Didn't she say somethin' about Hiccup and Toothless?" she questioned, trying to piece everything together. "They probably all know each other."

"Yeah, we do," Hiccup responded breathlessly. "Mom, Astrid, Gobber, this –" he motioned towards the unconscious girl, "– is Blizzard. Toothless and I met her about four or five years ago, when we . . . er, went flying." keep it plain and simple for now, involve details later. Even if the details were big enough to be _disappearing for a week._

Toothless tentatively nudged Blizzard with his nose, flinching back when she opened her lips and let out a small moan of pain.

"Aye, that doesn't sound good," Valka murmured.

Luckily they didn't have to stand around and worry much longer; Fishlegs arrived, panting, with Gothi in tow. "We're here," he announced breathlessly, putting his hands on his knees. Hiccup felt a twinge of sympathy for him – it would be hard to run all the way to Gothi's home and back.

Gothi immediately approached Blizzard, opening the sack she held in her hands. Valka, Gobber, Astrid, and Hiccup all shuffled away, but Toothless stubbornly stayed by her side – though he did make sure to keep his nose out of the way while the Elder worked.

The gray-haired woman was leaning down, eyes squinting as she tilted her head and put her ear near Blizzard's neck. After a quick mutter to herself, she pulled out a winding piece of gauze from her pouch and pressed it against the girl's forehead.

"Will she be alright?" Valka murmured to no one in particular.

Gothi nodded, but she seemed distracted as she felt for Blizzard's pulse in her neck. When she was satisfied, she removed the piece of gauze and peered at the wound, grumbling in frustration when the light was too dark for her to see anything.

Valka seemed to note this, and hurried inside without a word. She came out again with a candle clutched in her hand, and approached Gothi and Toothless. When the Night Fury had – _carefully_ – lit the candle, Valka held it above Blizzard's forehead.

Gothi shot the woman a grateful look as she returned busily to work. Hiccup couldn't clearly see what the Elder was doing from his position a few steps away.

"So, 'ow'd you meet this girl, again?" Gobber asked, leaning over and keeping his voice low.

Frowning, Hiccup struggled to explain. "Once . . . when I – do you remember, about five years ago, when I left for a week?"

The question, out-of-the-blue, surprised the blacksmith, but he thought about it before shaking his head. "I can't remember every single time you went away on an adventure," he sighed. "They all blend together!"

Hiccup smiled slightly. "Well, this one time," he began again. "I went off to try and find a new dragon species I'd heard about, and I found this girl . . ."

~˜~ § ~˜~

_It was dark._

_ It was dark, and she was floating._

_ Not falling, not flying. Merely suspended in the eternal abyss of darkness that she saw with closed eyes. The air around her swelled with feeling, pressing against her in a comforting manner as she laid peacefully._

_ When a hand carefully laid across her forehead her eyes opened to reveal the other person in the fog._

_ His hair was cut near his ears, framing his face. He wore a dark brown tunic that was the same color of his hair and eyes, but the latter feature seemed to have a strange metallic look to them. He carried an aura of mystical formality._

_ She slowly righted herself so her feet were beneath her. Gravity didn't exist as she did so, and she noticed that she, once again, wore the same blue-tinted white dress that she always seemed to wear when she dreamt like this. Her feet were bare, and felt soft, as did her hands. When she brought her eyes to meet her companion's, he cracked a small smile._

_ "You fell unconscious again."_

_ "Earth!" Blizzard exclaimed happily, throwing herself toward the spirit and squeezing him into a hug, easily picking him up and twirling him around. "You're back! Or I'm back!" Her foot rested on quickly-materialized ground so she could do her little pirouette with him in tow, but since she wasn't used to the strange sensation she slipped as if on ice, causing the two of them to become suspended unevenly again._

_ Earth grunted in annoyance as his feet floated slightly above his head. "You're so bothersome sometimes," he sighed, slowly moving to make himself stand upright again._

_ "Hey!" Blizzard protested, hiding her amused giggles and eyeing him as she was slowly turned upside-down. "Spirits are so light! I can't _not_ pick you guys up; it's like lifting a cloud!" she bent her knees so her dress didn't come up, her hair gently flowing all around her face._

_ "Right yourself; I came here on serious terms." Blizzard rolled her eyes._

_ "Yeah, and I came here 'cuz I –" breaking off as memories flooded in about her run-in with ice, Blizzard quickly flipped around, eyes becoming wide and frantic. "Earth! You have to let me go back, now!"_

_ Earth's brown eyes sparked amusement, making her cheeks flare up with embarrassment. "Be patient," he chastised her sternly. "That is why I need to speak with you, and quickly."_

_ "Fine, fine," the blood-redhead mumbled impatiently. "What?"_

_ For a moment the Earth Spirit paused, looking mildly uncertain, throwing Blizzard off as well. She wasn't used to seeing a Spirit – him, especially – looking hesitant. "I came . . . to warn you," he finally spoke, eyes averted from her own._

_ "Warn me?" when he nodded in affirmation, she tilted her head. "Why? I won't be harmed on Berk, I'm pretty sure . . . Hiccup and Toothless are there."_

_ "For two reasons." Pause. "Blizzard, listen . . ."_

_ "What?" she said, exasperated. "And since when do you say my name?"_

_ "Since now," Earth snapped back, before his eyes darkened to black and his voice turned ominous. "Something is crawling out of the shadows, filled with bloodlust and rage. Your destiny will be spoken again, through different words: you have been chosen out of those that have lesser strength than you. The dark creatures known as Shadows are arising after their own's destruction, and they hold you responsible for its demise._

_ "You are to be hunted, and you will be unable to –"_

"DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!"

_Blizzard's loud screech had stopped Earth's dark look, making his eyes blink up at her in surprise. Her pale features were contorted with anger. "I don't wanna hear _anything_ you're gonna say! I may like you and Leaf enough, but I _know_ that in the end Spirits will kill everyone I know and love just to get me to destroy those stupid Shadows for you, when _you_ should be the ones protecting _me,_ as a mortal. So listen here: I __**will never trust you."**_

_ Earth recoiled slightly, hurt flickering across his gaze, but it was only for a heartbeat. He then straightened up and gave her a cold stare. "You're an insolent and shallow mortal," he growled. "You have no right to speak to a Spirit like that, and don't feel special just because we converse with you through dreams. We do not have a casual friendship; Spirits control the world. You should bow down and grovel to us, for we keep balance and make sure your world is not thrown into undecipherable chaos for eternity._

_ "You are forbidden from this place for now. Leave, or your soul will be devoured."_

_ Already the fog around Blizzard was starting to press threateningly to her, no longer caring like it had been a few moments prior. Her eyes turned sad, and she saw how he deliberately turned away from her. Hurt pulsed in her chest, and she hated it, but she couldn't deny that she had grown to become . . . rather _intimate_ friends with him and Leaf. "Earth . . ."_

_ When he kept his back away from her, she sighed, each breath becoming harder every time. _

_ "I'm sorry."_

_ The words were hardly inaudible but she knew he heard them. Blizzard rested her hand on his shoulder gently, before retracting and closing her eyes, concentrating hard on Dawny, like she always did to go back._

_ Quickly she disintegrated from the fog, but not before Earth jolted from his silent treatment, realization dawning on his face as his eyes widened in shock. Blizzard might not have known it, but something was wrong._

_ "Leaf," Earth murmured urgently, before also dematerializing from the place as well and leaving a barren, clouded land._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"So she just needs sleep?" Hiccup asked as Gobber and Valka gingerly lowered Blizzard into the bed that was now Valka's alone.

"Sleep can sometimes be the best treatment," Valka pointed out wisely.

Gobber nodded. "Gothi thinks that once she wakes up, she'll need water," he said.

Toothless, who stood beside Hiccup, nudged his rider's side. Hiccup absentmindedly patted him on the forehead.

"Somehow she got a piece of ice in her forehead," Valka added as Blizzard was finally settled, looking less ghostly now that she wasn't bleeding as heavily. "Gothi got it out, but I wouldn' be surprised if it left a scar there."

"Ouch," Astrid commented from the other side of Hiccup. "How long do you think she'll be out?"

Valka, hovering uncertainly near the blood-redhead, shrugged. "I'm not a healer, but I'd hope she would be awake by morning," she said optimistically. "We'll just have to make sure the bleeding doesn't start again."

Astrid and Hiccup nodded simultaneously, before the former let out a tired yawn and shook her head to keep her eyes open. Hiccup, noticing this, smiled in amusement as he said, "You look pretty exhausted."

The blonde gave him a weary smile. "Well, I spent the morning helping clear away the ice, and I would have won the dragon race if it weren't for _you,"_ she added teasingly. "And then Stormfly and I had night patrol, and she showed up."

"Sounds like a hard day," Hiccup sympathized, though the smile stayed on his lips. Astrid rolled her eyes, knowing he was being sarcastic.

"Yeah, it was," she responded, her grin growing, before she realized that Gobber and Valka watched them with their own amused gazes. Forcing herself not to flush, she leaned over and pecked Hiccup on the cheek. "I'm going home. Goodnight," she said.

"Goodnight."

As Astrid left, Gobber piped up, "I think I'm off as well. I'll check up on our little redhead tomorrow morning, aye?"

Valka and Hiccup bade him farewell. When he was gone, the air turned awkward, since neither knew what to do with Valka's sleeping space being occupied by the unexpected guest.

"Do you want to stay in my bed?" Hiccup offered suddenly. "I can stay awake and see if Blizzard wakes up."

Valka smiled. "You're a kind boy," she said affectionately. "Thank you, Hiccup. You can wake me later, so you'll get to rest a bit."

As Valka climbed the wooden stairs leading to Hiccup's loft, Toothless retreated to the outside, where he settled on the roof of their house contentedly. Hiccup, as quietly as he could, relit the fire to a small flame as he brought his map of Berk closer so he could see, beginning to write a small note reading "house was accidentally broken by the twins during dragon race; fix" as the fire continued crackling quietly.

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Updates might get a little more sporadic from now on. I'm surprised I was even able to get 4 updates on a regular basis already :)**

**Reviews would make me, like, **_**uber **_**happy~! (though that's not a word~!)**

**-Mitti**


	5. Chapter IV

~˜~ § ~˜~

**Ocean Eyes**

_**Chapter IV**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

_"Hiccup!"_

The young man jolted awake when his mother prodded his shoulder urgently. "M-Mom?" he yawned, blinking sleep out of his eyes and realizing that he had been slumped over, sitting on the stone fireplace that held burnt, charred wood and no flame.

"Hiccup, come quickly," Valka said, eyes wide. "There's a dragon outside – it's none I've ever _seen!_ – but he's attacking any dragon or person that gets near him!"

Alarmed, Hiccup stood up, ignoring his aching muscles, and hurried towards the door, Valka in tow. They both burst through the doorway immediately, where the chaotic scene awaited them in the early morning light.

A _very familiar_ iridescent-scaled dragon was growling dangerously, claws digging into the ground as her silvery eyes glared darkly at the group of people that had swarmed around her. Just as Valka and Hiccup came up, Toothless had just been able to split the crowd of angered people and roar right in her face.

Hiccup froze, sending a swift glance at his home – there was a girl inside, who was still unconscious. "That's it," he breathed in realization. _Dawny's after Blizzard!_

"Hiccup?" Valka asked as her son quickly moved forward. People moved away once they saw their chief approaching, but still grumbled and shouted at the raging UnderIce dragon. After all, she _had_ appeared in a flurry of wings and just about destroyed several homes. Hiccup noted this, groaning inwardly at the thought of _more_ damage needing to be fixed, and approached Dawny as she slowed her hasty movements and eyed Toothless warily – yet curiously as well.

"Hey, Dawny," Hiccup began slowly as he moved up to be beside Toothless, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "It's us, remember?"

Toothless growled something, making Dawny chirp agitatedly in response, lashing her tail. "Don't get nervous," Hiccup soothed. "Blizzard's alright. She's just sleeping now."

At the name 'Blizzard' Dawny immediately pegged Hiccup with her unnerving gaze, making him swallow uncomfortably. When Dawny wanted to, she could really be _intimidating. _She then relaxed her claws slightly, before turning to Toothless. Looking as uncomfortable as a dragon could, she bowed her head awkwardly. Toothless raised his own, and Hiccup was reminded that all dragons – even ones not native – were supposed to obey the Alpha.

The shouts coming from the throng dwindled as Hiccup placed his hand confidently on Dawny's small nose. She blinked at him, before making a strange clicking nose in questioning.

"You want to go see her, eh?" he asked tepidly, giving the most assuring smile he could muster. "She's asleep right now, but she'll be awake soon . . ."

Dawny squeaked softly. The crowd watched in curiosity – and possibly suspicion – as Hiccup took his hand off the formerly-raging dragon's nose and turned to his mother.

"She's Blizzard's dragon," he explained in short. Valka's mouth opened to form a surprised 'o', before she carefully walked up to Dawny as well.

"So, Blizzard's her rider?" Valka asked in a low tone, acutely aware of how many people would be angry at Blizzard if they found out Dawny was hers. "I see. Does she want to see her?"

"Probably," Hiccup answered with an amused smile at the dragon. "I'll take her there. Her name's Dawny."

Valka's lip curved upwards. "Isn't that a sweet name."

Hiccup motioned for Dawny to follow him as he started walking towards their home, letting out a short chuckle and agreeing.

"It sure is."

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ Sometimes in dreams Blizzard felt like her senses were limitless._

_ She had felt this before, when she had nearly died from exhaustion and malnourishment on Depth Island. It had been nerve-rattling, how much she could see and hear and feel._

_ It had been _power.

_ And she didn't like it._

_ In some dreams, such as the one she was in now, her senses were normal. Blizzard could barely register that she had spoken with Earth, what felt like a second earlier. In this world, her own Dream World, memories were fleeting, and consciousness was an absolute 'no'._

_ In her haze, the blue-eyed girl couldn't form anything to how this Dream World looked, or what it was like. Colors were unneeded; details were unnecessary. Nothing truly mattered here, in this world that came in-between her dreams or Spirit visits._

_ Only one conscious thought conjured up in her mind._

_ "If I'm here, then another dream must be coming."_

_ But that was the catch – there _wasn't_ another dream coming. Nor a Spirit coming to meet her, though that was rare within itself. Only Leaf and Earth had ever come to say hello – Leaf, because she was actually _friendly_ and wanted to get to know her, while Earth only did so because of his connection to Leaf through the soil and trees. Leaf had also said something about she had insisted nonstop that he visit . . ._

_ Blizzard wasn't exactly a physical being in this world, but her mind was there – albeit very sluggish – and she knew that something was wrong._

_ "Why isn't another dream coming?"_

_ She couldn't figure it out. Times before, she had barely been in this world for more than a fleeting glimpse of knowing what it was like. It hadn't even been worth mentioning to Dawny when she spoke of her dreams; it was merely an uneventful break that lasted only a second._

_ This time, however, Blizzard felt like she had been here for ages._

_ And, when she woke up, she would feel the same. She wouldn't have any recollection of why she was _really_ kept in this so-called "Dream World" for so long, and she certainly wouldn't know that it would come back again._

_ Though it would've changed everything if she had._

~˜~ § ~˜~

Valka had seen loyalty with dragons and riders before – Hiccup and Toothless, Astrid and Stormfly, Cloudjumper and herself – but for some reason, she had the strange feeling that Dawny and Blizzard had a deeper . . ._ understanding._

Valka had been tasked with calming down the crowd while Hiccup took Dawny inside. After he finished, he quickly began gathering people willing from the throng to rebuild the newly-destroyed houses. She had watched her son with pride – he handled the situation, on top of many others, wonderfully. He would later have to keep working on removing the ice around Berk, help Gobber in the blacksmith's, _and_ holding the Dragon Race.

Once she was sure Hiccup had everything under control, Valka contemplated on checking up on Blizzard and Dawny. The former was bound to wake up soon, and she would most likely be disoriented.

So she decided to go up.

When Valka first entered her home, she was surprised to feel _grateful_ that there were strangers inside. Even though Valka had lived her younger years in this house, she _had_ been away for twenty. She would never say so to Hiccup, but the house wasn't really a _home_ to her anymore. Berk still felt like an unknown place sometimes.

Which was exactly why the older woman was relieved there was – or would be, when she awoke – someone else who might feel the same way. Valka was always so torn when she felt homesick for the Bewilderbeast's nest. Knowing it was understandable, since she spent twenty years there, and ashamed, because Berk should be her true home.

But it _wasn't._ Not really.

Not anymore.

"Hello, Dawny," Valka greeted as nicely as she could when she felt the dragon's suspicious gaze. She carefully stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. "How's Blizzard?"

Dawny emitted a strange trilling noise that Valka didn't understand. The dragon was curled tightly to herself, face resting on the bed and within reach of Blizzard. Occasionally her long tail twitched, as if she was impatient for the redhead to wake up.

"Just give her time to wake," Valka said cordially, moving to the corner of the house where they kept firewood. She hauled up a heavy branch and set it into the stone fireplace. "She hit her head pretty bad."

The white-scaled dragon chirped like an irritated bird, making Valka look up from her task, thinking the annoyance was directed at her. However, Dawny was looking at her rider, making it look as if she was giving the unconscious teen a stern lecture.

Valka couldn't help it. She laughed, making Dawny perk up in alarm.

"Oh, you two," she began in amusement, before her smile slowly faded as she realized that she didn't have anything else to say.

Sighing, she turned back to look around the house, before settling on echoing, "You two."

~˜~ § ~˜~

It was beginning to look like a cloudy day.

Before Hiccup had become chief, he hadn't really worried about the weather much. The only times it had concerned him was if it was too stormy to go out riding.

Now, though, Hiccup realized that he suddenly paid much more attention to what it was like outside. If it was raining, he had to make sure that all the torches around Berk were kept dry so people could still see around the streets in the evening. If it was cold, he had to make sure there was plenty of firewood for everyone to keep warm. If it was dry, he had to make sure that no houses were catching on fire.

He also had to make sure that enough fish were coming in for the dragon's basic diet, along with some for the Vikings of Berk as well. Along with organizing dragon races. And helping Gobber in the blacksmith's . . .

There was a lot of work to be done as a chief.

But Hiccup didn't mind. This was what he had dreamed of seeing ever since he had befriended Toothless – a place where dragons and Vikings could live together without fighting. He and Toothless were the ones to make that dream a reality.

It felt pretty great.

Hiccup and Toothless had been doing a quick scout around Berk before they headed in for a midday break. Once the Night Fury landed, he instantly hopped to the roof, curling around himself and sighing contentedly.

Hiccup's mouth twitched in a smile. "Don't get too comfy, bud," he warned. "We'll have to go back out soon."

Toothless just snorted in response.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at his dragon's behavior, but knew that he would be ready to go flying again soon. He walked up to his home and pulled the door open, a near-identical sight to the one he had seen earlier greeting him – except his mother was here this time.

"Glad you don't work your fingers to the bone," Valka said warmly, looking at her son from where she stirred something in a pot over their fireplace. Hiccup briefly wondered if she was cooking; if so, he wasn't sure he wanted to stay.

"Well, it's never fun when we have to," he responded amiably, before glancing back at the bed. Dawny was curled up beside it, only allowing her gaze to shift to the newcomer for just a moment before she focused back on Blizzard.

"Never," Valka agreed, chuckling. She then shuffled over to their table, Hiccup following. Once they had both sat down, Hiccup realized that she had pushed a glass of water towards him. Despite his mother's inept cooking skills, she was still a kindhearted woman that Hiccup was proud to call his mom.

"Then 'ow's everything going, Hiccup?" Valka queried politely, sipping from her own glass. "Cloudjumper and I took a quick flight around. We didn't see anythin' suspicious."

"That's good," Hiccup sighed, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. "I'm tired," he then added.

Valka smiled. "You're doing great," she encouraged. "How is clearing the ice goin'? Ever since, ah, _Blizzard's_ accident, I think it's important that we melt it all away."

Hiccup nodded. "But there's so much," he pointed out dismally. "And even though we have all spare dragons working on it, too many dragons are needed for rebuilding."

Valka nodded. "I understand. I s'pose it's not too big of'a deal. It'll all get better, so don't worry yourself."

"I won't," Hiccup promised, taking a drink of water. For a moment mother and son sat in peaceful silence, enjoying a break in a hectic day. The two females in the background had seemed to fade away from the scene for that one blissful moment.

Of course, that would never last long.

Hiccup and Valka both snapped their evergreen-colored gazes over to the bed when Blizzard let out a pitiful moan. Dawny's own eyes were wide and her body was tense, but she didn't move.

"Blizzard?" Hiccup said, standing up from his chair and hurrying over to Valka's bed, next to the UnderIce dragon. The blood redhead's eyes were squeezed shut as if she was having a bad dream, while she began fidgeting.

Hiccup's mother soon joined the huddle, but stood a step or so behind the others. She didn't know Blizzard as well as the other two.

"Dawny," Hiccup suddenly began. "Could you go get Toothless? He wouldn't want to miss this."

The white-scaled dragon chirped like a bird, before lithely jumping over the furniture and prying the door open with her teeth. Once her task was accomplished she jumped outside, quickly spreading her wings and bouncing into the air.

"Isn't Toothless right outside?" Valka asked, surprised that Dawny had taken such an _enthusiastic_ soar into the air.

Hiccup let out a sheepish chuckle. "Well, I didn't really specify _where_ he was," he pointed out, veering his attention back to Blizzard. Her hands twitched, her body convulsed, and then her eyes flew open.

Without a second to spare she let out a fierce howl and launched herself out of the bed, tackling Hiccup to the ground and making his head hit the wooden floor.

"Hiccup!" Valka cried, dashing over and trying to pry off the deranged blood-redhead. "Get off him!"

After hearing the older woman's voice, Blizzard's fiery gaze was broken and she looked up at Valka. Confusion flooded her irises, and she allowed herself to be pushed away from the other two.

"Wh – what?" she stammered, before realizing what she had done. Hiccup's head was spinning from the pain, and he groaned as his mother helped him unsteadily to his feet.

"Oh . . . o-oh! S-skies above!" Blizzard now wore the expression of downright terror when Hiccup's eyes caught sight of her. "I-I'm so sorry, Hiccup! I didn't . . . I d-didn't see . . . what did I see . . ."

"It's okay," he assured, though he still felt rather disoriented. Valka noticed this, and watched him with a wary eye, lest he fall. "But you're awake! And you're back!"

For a moment Blizzard, head tilted to the side, stared at him in bemusement, until she seemed to finally realize who she was looking at. She inhaled, looking from Valka to Hiccup.

"That I am," she said a little nervously, before cracking a smile. "It's great to see you again, Hiccup. It's only been, what, five years?"

Hiccup chuckled. "Around that," he responded.

Blizzard laughed, turquoise eyes sparkling. Before she could say anything else, though, the door burst open again, and in came two anxious dragons, both of which danced around the house and tackled the redhead by nudging.

_"Toothless!"_ Blizzard cried in ecstasy, rubbing the Night Fury's forehead. "And Dawny! I was wondering where you went off to, girl! Happy I finally woke up, eh?"

Valka nodded. "That dragon hasn' moved from your side 'till just a moment ago," she commented. Dawny's shimmering eyes blinked up at her rider almost adoringly.

"You're so sweet," Blizzard crooned, before hugging Toothless and looking at _his_ rider. "You guys look so different!" she marveled. "Hiccup, you're _taller than me!"_

"He's taller than most," Valka said.

"I guess!" Blizzard untangled herself from the two dragons and dashed over to give Hiccup a hug. "It's great to see you again, after all this time."

"Same," Hiccup responded as she broke away, grinning until she caught sight of something on his face and winced. "What?"

The blood-redhead looked down uncomfortably. "Your scar," she finally mumbled. "Where I scratched you five years ago. Remember?"

It was difficult – being _five years_ and all – but if he thought hard, he could remember. "Oh, yeah," he said. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine."

"Great, then!" Blizzard immediately brightened up. "So, is this your house? Are we on Berk?"

A sudden thought occurred to Hiccup. "Yeah, we are. But I need to keep working." he turned to Valka. "I promised I'd be back soon. Could you . . . ?"

The brunette gave a small smile. "I'll watch her," she promised. "And I can take her around Berk as well."

"That'd be great." Hiccup turned to Blizzard, who looked lost. "Sorry to leave so suddenly like this but I think you're capable of not attacking anyone while I'm gone. Alright?"

The sarcasm in his voice didn't go undetected by Blizzard but before she could retaliate with any comeback of her own Hiccup had motioned Toothless to run towards the door, and the former hopped on his back as he did so, resulting in both of them being launched upwards toward the sky.

Blizzard glanced at Valka, and seemed to remember everything that had happened the previous night. "Um, if you didn't already guess," she began awkwardly. "My name's Blizzard. I'm, uh, distant friends with Hiccup, and . . . I'm sorry for lying to you."

Valka chuckled. "You look enough like a twig anyways," she teased, before jerking her head to the door. "Come on. I'll show you and your dragon around."

Blizzard's eyes sparkled. "Thank you!" she exclaimed, and the three of them exited the house and into the cloudy day, Dawny sticking close to her rider's side in wariness of her surroundings.

~˜~ § ~˜~

_Last night, I could've sworn her eyes were blue . . ._

~˜~ § ~˜~


	6. Chapter V

**Hello! Sorry if I'm lacking in detail with the layout of Berk, but I don't know **_**anything**_** in relation to that subject. If you're an expert, it would make me **_**very very**_** thankful if you gave me a briefing of it!**

**-Mitti**

~˜~ § ~˜~

"An' this is the Great Hall – also called the Meade Hall," Valka concluded, glancing at Blizzard as her jaw dropped in awe of the huge building. She smiled in amusement.

"Woah . . ." Blizzard breathed, absentmindedly patting Dawny's head. "It's huge! How did you _build_ something like this?"

Valka chuckled. "I wasn' born when it was firs' built," she admitted. "Though I've helped in plenty of repairs."

The blood-redhead shared an incredulous look with Dawny, before shaking her head. "The things you people make when you work together," she muttered, glancing at the large, chiseled statue of Stoick beside the Great Hall – which several Vikings and dragons were still working on, even though the sun was halfway set.

Valka had spent the remainder of the afternoon showing curious Blizzard and cautious Dawny around Berk. She had tried to avoid conversing with too many of the Vikings – after all, the two had been more than disruptive the day before.

They had run into Hiccup once, and he had offered to round up his dragon riding friends to meet Blizzard a little more formally at the Great Hall. Hence the three of them finished up their tour at the requested building.

"So, who am I meeting?" the young teen asked again, rubbing her forehead's bandages. They were bothering her immensely, though she couldn't figure out why.

"Hiccup's friends," Valka replied as she pushed open one of the massive doors. Seeing her struggling, Dawny was quick to assist, making the door swing open effectively. Valka sent the UnderIce dragon a thankful smile.

"Um . . . o-kay," Blizzard said slowly, not quite sure how to take that information. "So, does he have a lot of friends, then? Because I'm, ah . . ." she glanced over her shoulder nervously. "Not the best with people."

Valka blinked into the torch-lit hall, before fully registering what the foreign girl had actually said. "Oh, don' worry," she reassured. "I was exactly the same way, not too long ago. I don' know if you heard the story, but I was away for twenty years."

Four wide eyes stared back at her. _"T-twenty_ years?" Blizzard echoed, her voice trembling a bit.

Valka uncomfortably took a few steps into the building, sadly wondering if the young girl was about to give her the same _'I can't believe you stayed away from your home for that long!'_ "It was a long time to be away, I know," Valka said before anything else could be. "But I believed it . . . better . . . to stay away . . ."

"Oh, that's not what I meant!" Blizzard quickly corrected as she hurried forward to be in-pace with Valka, Dawny not far behind her. "I was just . . . I just can't believe you could . . . be so strong . . ." she lowered her gaze. "For _twenty whole years."_

The green-eyed woman blinked again, but before she could think any further of the peculiar response, Cloudjumper appeared in the doorway of the hall, looking in at them with big, pleading eyes.

Blizzard and Dawny nearly jumped out of their skin, but Valka laughed. "Oh, come in," she said. Her dragon, needing no other invitation, squeezed through the small space of just one open door and bounded right up to them cheerfully.

"Are you Valka's dragon?" Blizzard asked the Stormcutter, not at all intimidated by his looming presence. Dawny cautiously shuffled closer to her rider protectively, but the latter didn't notice.

"Aye, he is," Valka affirmed.

"Wow, aren't you pretty!" the turquoise-eyed girl exclaimed, grinning like a seven-year-old. "And you're so _big!_ So many dragons around here are much bigger than I'm used to."

"He's about average-sized, actually," Valka said, catching a glimpse of someone else walking into the large gathering place but ignoring it. "His name is Cloudjumper."

"Cloudjumper," Blizzard repeated, before introducing herself. "Well, I'm Blizzard, and this is Dawny! We're a team, too!"

While speaking the blood-redhead and pulled Dawny closer to her in a hug, to which the UnderIce grunted but didn't move away. Cloudjumper seemed to survey them for a moment, before his ear twitched and his head swiveled around.

"We're here!" called a familiar voice.

"Oh, hey, Hiccup!" Blizzard greeted when said boy and Toothless appeared. "Is anyone else with–?"

"SURPRISE!"

The loud shout was followed by a shriek and a harsh _thud_ before anyone realized what happened.

Tuffnut, in a blaze of mischief, had snuck up behind Blizzard and yelled in her ear, causing her to scream and instinctively try to slap whoever had scared her. However, Dawny beat her to it, tackling the blond to the ground and growling.

"Whoa, whoa – easy, dragon!" Tuffnut exclaimed, trying to crawl away but failing under said dragon's weight. Ruffnut, who had been hiding behind a table in the Great Hall, came out, holding her sides and laughing – as usual – at her brother's pain.

"Wha – Tuffnut!" Hiccup said accusingly. "Why did you do that?"

Blizzard looked even paler than she normally did, but she managed to place a hand on Dawny's back. "You can get off him, Dawny," she said, easing her away while Tuffnut groaned on the ground.

"That was _awesome!_ Did you _see_ how that dragon tackled you?!" Ruffnut called to her brother, still laughing.

"Believe me, I _felt _it," he grumbled back to her.

"U-um, I'm sorry," Blizzard apologized awkwardly. "Dawny's a little protective of me."

"It's fine," Hiccup said, waving them off. "They do this sort of thing all the time."

"What sort of thing?"

Cloudjumper shuffled out of the way when he saw Astrid, Stormfly, Eret, and Skullcrusher approaching. Astrid yanked open the other door of the Meade Hall, allowing the cloudy sky to filter thin light into the room that was still mostly dark.

"Oh, you know, being the most helpful people around," Hiccup replied sarcastically, grinning. Astrid returned the smile, but it faded when she caught sight of Blizzard, who was eyeing her nervously.

"Heh, you two probably didn't get off to the best start," Hiccup began carefully. "So why don't I properly introduce you? Astrid, Stormfly, this is Blizzard and Dawny."

Awkward silence hung in the air for a moment, but Blizzard broke it by stammering, "H-hello. You're dragon's really pretty."

Astrid blinked, not expecting the compliment. Eret gave Hiccup a meaningful look, to which he caught on quickly.

"Oh! And Blizzard, this is –"

"I'm Eret," said boy interrupted suavely. "Son of Eret. This is Skullcrusher."

Blizzard smiled slightly. "I don't know what you guys do to befriend your dragons, but whatever you do, it's working."

"We're here!" a frantic voice called as two more men appeared. The blood-redhead's content expression faded, and she looked rather dazed at the prospect of meeting more people. Valka noted this carefully, but Hiccup didn't seem to realize how drained Blizzard was getting.

"Fishlegs, Snotlout," Hiccup greeted. "Meet our new visitor!"

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ "She's exhausted."_

_ Leaf sent an almost sly glance at Earth. "Are you worried about her?" she teased._

_ Despite being Spirits, they were still able to look just about the same as mortals. Therefore, Leaf could see the embarrassed flush in Earth's face. "Not at all," he said, though a little uncertainly. "It is her own fault for recklessly heading to that island. She deserves to be tired."_

_ "Yes, she is physically tired," Leaf agreed, becoming serious. "But I fear she is mentally exhausted as well. Her friends mean well by welcoming her like they are –" she gestured to her glowing orb, "– but don't they realize that something is wrong?"_

_ An eerie silence followed. Earth leaned closer to the orb, where Blizzard's face was showing. She was smiling. _

_ "Will we be able to tell her?" he asked quietly._

_ "What _can_ we tell her?" Leaf asked, exasperated. "We know something's wrong, but we don't know _what._ If only her dragon could speak to us as well." she sent a longing look at the glowing picture of Dawny, who was right beside Blizzard as usual. "Then we could figure something out . . ."_

_ Another pause._

_ "Should we . . . should we warn the others?" Leaf asked, voice trembling._

_ Earth sighed. "I believe we may not have much of a choice," he finally admitted. "Though I would advise with telling Wind first. She'll take the news more calmly than the others."_

_ "I agree," the blonde Spirit said quietly. "Thank you, Earth. But next time you talk to her . . ."_

_ "Yes?"_

_ ". . . just . . . just don't hurt her feelings," Leaf finally settled on. "If . . . if darkness is that dangerous, which we both know it is, then she'll be having more bad dreams than ever. It affects her behavior, and it could affect her friends as well. I know she won't want to be treated like glass –" her gaze flickered to Blizzard's face once again. "– but try to be nice."_

_ Earth didn't respond. He turned away from Leaf stiffly, evaporating in the fog. The latter sighed, forlornly at the orb._

_ "Wind can help us," she whispered decidedly. "If only . . . if only Ocean would . . ."_

_**She and him are connected. But it won't last for long.**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

"So, have you ever heard of dragon races, Blizzard?"

Valka was getting increasingly worried about the new girl. She had spoken to everyone with a hesitant smile and cautious words, but she was starting to look as if she would fall off her feet. Thankfully, they had all sat down at the tables, and had just finished their evening meal. Blizzard had hardly touched her food.

"We had to cancel today's dragon race because of extra repairs . . ." Tuffnut muttered. Dawny cut her eyes at him; after all, _she_ had been responsible for said repairs, so he was indirectly blaming her. Blizzard, however, didn't hear his comment.

"I . . . don't think so," she said slowly. "What are they?"

"They're _awesome!"_ Ruffnut cut in. _"I_ always win!"

"What about yesterday?" Astrid countered, smirking. "You lost then."

"So did _you."_

"Because _someone_ had to steal the show," Valka concluded, sending a teasing look at her son, who shrugged bashfully in response. Blizzard tilted her head, not understanding the reference.

"I still haven't forgiven you for that," Astrid said casually.

Hiccup sent her a wounded look. "I wasn't _that_ good, was I?" he asked, a small grin forming on his own face afterwards.

Astrid scoffed, turning away. "You certainly have that 'dramatic flare', huh," she muttered to herself, but Blizzard still heard her.

"Anyway," Hiccup said, moving the conversation forward. "I know the dragon race today was cancelled, but there'll be one tomorrow. Mom, are you sure you don't want to join?"

Valka put her hands up in a peacefully defensive gesture. "Cloudjumper would prefer flying unrestricted. And I can't say I disagree."

"Okay." Hiccup nodded. "What about you, Eret? Thinking about it?"

Eret shrugged. "I still don't know if Skullcrusher likes that sort of thing," he admitted. "He seems to be used to watching. I'm fine with doing that."

Astrid grinned. "Spoken like a true dragon rider. Always listening to him."

"Then it'll be Ruff and Tuff, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Astrid, me, and –" the brunet broke off, catching the unblinking gaze of Blizzard, and suddenly becoming acutely aware of her different-colored irises. It may have been five years, but her eyes had been eerily blue before – he wasn't one to forget them so easily.

But now her eyes were aquamarine.

_What . . . ?_

"Blizzard?" he asked, shakily dismissing the thought. "Would you like to?"

Said girl laughed nervously. "W-well, ah . . ." she glanced at Dawny, who was conversing with the other dragons. The UnderIce felt her gaze immediately; her silver eyes flickered to her rider. She then trilled lowly, before returning her attention to the rest of the dragons.

The blood-redhead turned back around. "Sure!" she said, a bit apprehensively. "I just don't know how to play."

"Oh, don't worry!" Fishlegs chimed in assuringly. "Hiccup's great at teaching the rules! He's taught _everyone_ on Berk, so they'd know how to follow along!"

"Thank you, Fishlegs," Hiccup said humbly.

Blizzard looked around the circle of grinning faces – including Astrid's, who seemed to be warming up to her a little – before her own lips formed a smile.

"Alright. Dawny and I'll play!"

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ "Well, little redhead, you may think everything's all dandy now, especially with your new eye color. But it doesn't mean what you think it does – it means something much, much worse, I can assure you._

_ "Just you wait . . . tonight, everything will begin, and then even Light itself won't be able to stop us . . ."_

~˜~ § ~˜~


	7. Chapter VI

**In case you've noticed, I've bumped up the rating to T. I did that just because I've come to the conclusion that Ocean Eyes is going to be a bit darker than The Storm, the White, the Blizzard. Nothing truly awful, though, so don't worry :)**

**Please read and enjoy~!**

**-Mitti**

~˜~ § ~˜~

Dawny was tired.

Now, that may have been Blizzard's blatant exhaustion rubbing off on her – _how_ the others missed the girl's yawns still eluded her – but nevertheless, the UnderIce dragon was looking forward to sleeping the night away.

Unfortunately, she realized that this wish would not be completed for a while.

Blizzard was situated with a blanket on the wooden floor, despite Valka's protests of her taking the bed, and was dozing the moment she laid down. Dawny had positioned herself beside her rider protectively, curling around her thin frame, but hadn't closed her eyes just yet.

She may have been confined to one person's mental contact for five years – a certain person whose mind she couldn't read or comprehend without being given insight by the girl in question – but she could feel the faint tug of people's emotions and feelings the moment she became exposed to all these people.

To ensure that it was safe to sleep, Dawny honed her weak skills on Valka first. The woman seemed to be on the brink of sleep, but still in a semi-conscious state. She wouldn't be dreaming for a while then.

The silver-eyed dragon then twitched her ear to Toothless, who was up on the roof. He was out, no word otherwise. He wasn't dreaming, either, but Dawny supposed that not _all_ humans and dragons alike dreamt the moment they nodded off.

Her last subject was Hiccup.

Three time's the charm, or so it's been said.

The white-scaled dragon sensed a peculiar emotion coming from him – it was a mix of something, that was for sure. He, unlike the others, was dreaming, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was about. His mental reaction to it was far too bizarre.

However, Dawny still didn't like it.

Her own sleepiness began fading away when she felt something eerie coming from . . . _where?_ She didn't know exactly. All she knew was that something was wrong.

_Again._

Dawny only spared her rider one swift glance before she lithely jumped to her feet, creaked open the door, and shot into the night sky. She didn't like the way the torch light reflected off of the ice. She didn't like how the shadows of the houses wavered uncertainly.

_Something's wrong now. And it'll only get worse._

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ Hiccup wasn't usually one to dream, so when he found himself in the forests of Berk with vivid accuracy he was caught off-guard. It was so surreal but real – he recognized this place. Toothless had once got his tail-fin stuck in one of those tree's branches, hadn't he? The scrape marks from the Night Fury's claws were still there, even in this dream . . . _

_ There was no one else around yet._

_ "Hello?" Hiccup shuddered as his voice echoed unnervingly through the forest. Now things didn't look quite so precise – fog was rolling in gently, seeming peaceful but giving Hiccup the strangest sense of caution. _

_ Now, had this dream occurred the next night, Hiccup might have had a higher suspicion for uncanny dreams. However, it was happening tonight._

_ Hiccup wasn't quite sure what to do or where to go, so he began walking in the direction back to Berk. He seemed to trek so far he was unsure whether he had missed the Vikings' village or not._

_ But he hadn't._

_ There wasn't a Berk here._

_ When something shining in the fog caught his eye, his breathing stopped for a moment – it may have been hazy, as it was five years ago, but he remembered something similar to this exact moment._

_ Only the one in the past had been in real life. But who's to say that dreams can't be real, too?_

_ "Dawny?" Hiccup called, and the glimmer of iridescent scales vanished. "Dawny–!"_

_ He was left in a world of fog. Alone. There was no Dawny in this world anymore._

_ His dream faded, and became just as unclear as his memories from five years ago._

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ Blizzard was in the Dream World realm._

_ Once again, she didn't fully process this; or, at least, that was what she believed._

_ The truth was that she remembered every single second of her time in this place – until she woke up, that is. Then it would feel as blurry and insignificant as it did before. It wasn't amnesia, for she had no trouble remembering any other dream or real-life occurrence._

_ So why was this place any different?_

_ She wouldn't know. But she _would_ remember one thing –_

_ She would wake up screaming with a renewed fear of her dagger that she had left lying on the ground the night she passed out._

_Why?_

~˜~ § ~˜~

_**It wasn't there anymore.**_

~˜~ § ~˜~

Valka woke up to a wail.

Her body jerked upwards as the terrified scream continued, echoing around the house. She hastily threw off her covers and stumbled to her feet, tired but jittery from the unusual awakening. She faintly realized that it was already dawn; she would've woken up just a little later had it not been for this.

She was soon joined by Hiccup, who mirrored her expression. Both of them shared a look of worry, before directing their attention to whom they believed was the cause of the noise.

Sure enough, it was Blizzard.

"Blizzard!" Hiccup cried as they dashed over, kneeling beside her. Sweat was dripping down her face, dampening her shirt, while her eyes were squeezed shut in fear. Her fists were clenched, and she was writhing uncontrollably. Dawny was no where to be seen, but Toothless was quick to burst through the door, green eyes blazing as he saw the frail girl trapped in her nightmare. Cloudjumper's face appeared in the doorway soon after.

"Wake up!" Valka cried, impulsively grabbing Blizzard's shoulders and shaking her. "Wake _up!"_

"N – NO!" Blizzard shrieked, her turquoise eyes finally snapping open. _"D-DON'T HURT ME!"_

"Blizzard, calm down," Hiccup said, placing his hand over Valka's on the girl's shoulder. "You were just having a nightmare."

The blood-redhead seemed to relax the moment he began talking, before inhaling slowly. "Y-yeah," she said, shakily sitting up. "Right . . . I was, wasn't I. Where's Dawny?"

Valka assumed that Blizzard had been accustomed to waking up to her dragon whenever she was scared in her sleep like that. "I haven' seen her," she said truthfully when the girl's questioning gaze landed on her. Hiccup gave his answer by shrugging.

"Oh," she said, deflating a bit as she absentmindedly rubbed the damp bandages on her forehead. "Well, she probably went to get some fresh air." her eyes suddenly lit up, remembering something from the day before. "Hey, Hiccup! When's the dragon race?"

Hiccup was bemused at the sudden topic change. "It's later today," he answered, refraining from adding _like it always is._ He reminded himself that Blizzard had only been here for one day.

"Okay," Blizzard said amiably as the three of them ceremoniously stood up. "But before we play, can you tell me the rules?" she asked, embarrassed. "I never really figured them out last night."

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed, before turning to his mother and cracking an amused smile. "I take it we'll be having plain bread for breakfast?" he teased, knowing the extent – or lack thereof – of his mother's cooking skills.

Valka nodded, her own mouth curving up in a smile. "Would you like some, Blizzard?" she offered politely as she moved over to where they stored their bread. She hesitated before taking any out, seeing uncertainty on their guest's behalf.

"I – it's very nice of you to offer," the blood-redhead began awkwardly. "But I don't want to be any trouble. Really," she added when both Hiccup and Valka looked as if they were to protest. "There's a forest here, isn't there? D – I'll find something."

Blizzard dropped her gaze and headed for the door. Valka narrowed her eyes; beneath those oversized clothes was a malnourished girl who, despite her rosy cheeks and normal complexion, had probably never eaten properly in her life. "Wait."

She stopped.

Valka placed a hand on her hip. "As long as you are my guest I insist that you eat with us," she said in the _"mom"_ tone. "You can't go searching for food. What if you find somethin' poisonous?"

Blizzard smiled wryly, wrinkling her nose. "I've done that before, actually. I just throw it up afterwards."

Valka frowned. "That _can't_ be good for you," she pointed out. "You won' be a burden if you eat with us. Winter's over, and food is around more. Though with dragons, we'll _always_ have never-endin' fish."

Hiccup silently chuckled and agreed. Blizzard was staring at both of them with wide aquamarine eyes, disbelief and – _hope,_ was it? – shining in them.

She morphed her features into a grateful smile.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, stepping away from the door. _You don't know how much it means to me . . ._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"_W-Wind?"_

_Leaf couldn't deny it; Wind was shockingly beautiful._

_Her stature was similar to Leaf's; small and slim, looking as if the very breeze she conjured up could push her into the skies. And, even though Leaf was certainly a sight with her flowing blonde hair and piercing yellow-green eyes, Wind was easily the most beautiful Spirit._

_Her hair was a silvery-white, reaching her waist; constantly fluttering about and emitting a shimmery light. Her eyes were identical to two mystic opals, and would be invisible to the whites of her eyes if not for the slight discoloration of her irises._

_Her complexion was just as pale as Blizzard's, and her calm aura seemed to make her glow. She wore a long, layered white dress that reached below her feet._

_Leaf had always been slightly afraid of her._

"_Yes, Leaf?" Wind said in her gentle voice, though Leaf wasn't swayed. She knew that this supposedly sweet Spirit could become a massive tornado whenever she wanted to. "You wish to speak with me?"_

_ "Y-yes, actually." Leaf rubbed her hands together nervously. She had only been a Spirit for less than a hundred years, and had always cowered when in the presences of her fellow Spirits. The only reason Earth was an exception was because his earth and her plants were connected more so than with the others; she didn't have much of a choice._

_ It was similar with Wind and . . ._

_ A few others._

_ "I need to talk to you."_

_ Wind raised one of her delicate eyebrows._

_ "Yes . . . ?"_

~˜~ § ~˜~


	8. Chapter VII

**For the record, I don't actually know the ins-and-outs of the dragon races. So if I have incorrect information, please don't mind it.**

_Heads up: I won't be updating for a few weeks after this. I'm going on vacation, and won't have access to the internet or a computer. Thanks for understanding. Enjoy the dragon race!_

**-Mitti**

~˜~ § ~˜~

Blizzard furrowed her bandaged brow. "I think I get it," she said slowly. "So . . . Dawny and I have to do 'laps' around the 'course', which means we have to follow a path in the air . . ."

Hiccup smiled, rather proudly, as he listened to her recite what she had learned that morning. Valka couldn't help but inwardly laugh at his ecstasy. He was certainly happy that Blizzard would be joining in on the race.

". . . and we have to collect the sheep with the targets on them . . . The white sheep are worth one point each, and the black sheep is worth ten . . . because it's launched in the air . . . ? You have to place the sheep you get into your bin, which is near the start of the course . . ."

"I think she's got it all," Valka noted to Hiccup, who nodded in approval. Toothless was sitting nearby, rather impatiently, as the race would begin soon. The other dragon riders were down in the dragon stables, applying their facepaint to themselves and their dragons.

Dawny had returned from her nightly adventure, and was now faithfully standing beside her rider, taking in everything she said. No one had questioned where she had run off to, not even Blizzard, though she was concerned for her dragon. Dawny had returned with a strange look marring her silver eyes, one that she couldn't read.

"You've got it all, Blizzard!" Hiccup praised, eliciting a small blush from the complimented girl. "Let's meet up with the other riders and put our facepaint on. We'll be able to put some over your bandages, too, if you'd like."

"R-right! Sure!" Blizzard agreed. Valka took a step back as the two riders and two dragons began walking towards the stables. She realized with amusement that the wind, which was blowing relatively strongly at the moment, was resulting in the girl's hair to become all the more disheveled. Valka had to admit that Blizzard had done a poor job in cutting her hair.

_Maybe I'll help her fix it later,_ Valka thought absently as she began to walk to the grandstands, where most of the Vikings had sat down already. _I'll just need to find a pair of scissors . . ._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"What color do you want?"

"A-ah . . ." Blizzard uncertainly looked at all the options, laid out on a wooden table. To the disappointment of Tuffnut, she hadn't showed the least of emotion when he jumped out at her, face covered in his black-and-yellow trademark paint. Dawny had merely knocked him down with a swish of her surprisingly-strong tail – as it did _not_ look that powerful – and everyone else greeted the four uneventfully.

Her options were black, red, orange, yellow, green, a greenish-blue, and sky-blue. All of them, except for the black and maybe the red, were lighter colors.

Call her strange, but Blizzard had never _been_ one for lighter colors. Her eyes lit up with an idea, noticed only by Astrid, who was helping her. Hiccup was applying the red to Toothless's forehead.

_I know . . . !_ It was out of habit that she decided. After all, she needed her _own_ color. The ones available had all been used by the others . . .

Astrid raised an eyebrow when Blizzard excitedly grabbed the black, before dipping her entire hand in. The blonde's eyes widened, and she was quick to stop her once she realized how much of a mess the girl was about to make.

"No, no! You only use two fingers," she hastily interjected, grabbing her wrist. However, unlike the reaction Astrid was expecting – an apology – she got two blank turquoise eyes staring back at her. Unnerved, she let go of Blizzard's pale arm.

Continuing as if nothing had happened, the blood-redhead then grabbed the same blue paint Astrid used, before dipping the normal two fingers in. She then overturned her other palm, still covered in black paint, before mixing the two.

It was then that Astrid realized what she was doing.

Blizzard continued this action promptly, so focused that she didn't notice when everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch her. Dawny nosed her side once, but was left with the absentminded words of, "Hang on, Dawny-Dee, I'm almost done . . ."

When she had finished, she held a handful of dark blue dye that had begun to drip onto the table.

"Alright! Dawny, c'mere . . ." Blizzard mumbled as she proceeded to take her pinky finger and carefully draw a symbol on the UnderIce's cheek. Everyone else watched with baited breath, wondering what she was doing.

They didn't miss her pausing briefly, closing her eyes with a blissful smile. _Thank you, Leaf . . . I suppose I owe a lot to you now . . . so the least I can do is this . . ._

Drawn, on the left side of Dawny's beautifully-scaled face, was a small blue leaf, drawn surprisingly well in Blizzard's opinion. She had never been one for art, but she supposed everyone had their exceptions once in a while.

"There!" Blizzard chirped, before turning to Astrid. "Can you help me put the rest of it on her?" she asked, holding out her hand that was still dripping paint. "I think I've got an idea for what we could do. . ."

Astrid could only think of one thing at that moment as she smiled and accepted the invitation.

_She's something else._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"M-my eyes . . ."

Astrid looked up to where Blizzard was studying her half-painted face in the small, dirty mirror the dragon riders had specifically for admiring their facepaint. "Something wrong?" she asked, seeing the troubled look on the girl's face.

"What?" She jumped, surprised, and turned to the blonde. "O – oh, nothing," she said, turning back to look in the mirror again. "Nothing at all."

~˜~ § ~˜~

_"Welcome to the Dragon Race!"_

Astrid watched with slight amusement as Blizzard gawked up at Hiccup, who was standing on the same platform Stoick used to sit on. He had to shout to be heard, but the Vikings had quieted down quickly enough when they saw him fly up on Toothless.

The blood-redhead was seated on Dawny beside Astrid and Stormfly. The UnderIce had dark blue streaks running from her claws and tail to her back and wings. It outlined Dawny's bones, making her look almost _fragile_ but nonetheless intriguing. Especially with the never-before-seen symbol on her scaley cheek.

Blizzard had an odd design also; she had blue paint streak from the corner of her eyes down to her chin, almost like tears, and a small wave-like shape on her forehead that was drawn over her bandages. She had also done the same bone-tracing technique on her hands, which were clasped around the hem of her oversized shirt.

"We have a new contestant this time," Hiccup continued loudly, everyone's eyes trained excitedly on him. The dragon riders could _just barely_ see him from their starting point in the stables. "Her name is Blizzard, and her dragon is Dawny!"

This caused murmurs to ripple through the crowds. The announced girl bit her lip anxiously. She didn't want to be seen as an enemy, nor as a nuisance. She wanted to do _good_ in this game – to prove herself, in a way.

"Alrighty, now, Dawny-Dee," Blizzard whispered, leaning down to her dragon could hear her better – using her dragon's other affectionate nickname. "We've never played this before, but I still wanna try to win. Or not totally _lose,_ I guess. You remember everything, don't you . . . ?"

At Dawny's affirmative squeak, she continued, "Good. I'm not sure what's gonna happen, exactly, but I know what course we have to follow. I'll guide you, but I can't force you. You'll have to fly fast on your own. Remember, since we're not in water, it's better to keep your wings more spread-out. You also can't rely on your tail as much." Blizzard glanced back at her dragon's long, lashing tail. "Yeah, focus on speed . . . you only need strength when you carry the sheep. We also have to be able to avoid the others . . . Hiccup said that everyone's pretty determined to win–"

_"Blizzard!"_ Astrid hissed, startling the turquoise-eyed girl out of her rant. "We're going in a few seconds!"

"Wha–?!" Blizzard cried, realizing that Hiccup and Toothless had already flown down and taken their place at the starting point, aligned with the other contestants. "Oh – thank you, Astrid!" she beamed gratefully.

Then the large horn was blown, and the race began.

~˜~ § ~˜~

_ Wind gave Leaf a long look with her opal eyes, before finally asking, "You believe something is wrong."_

_ Leaf cringed. "It sounds ridiculous, I know," she admitted. "But have you paid attention to the girl lately–?"_

_ "I do not squander my time with trivial problems such as that."_

_ Leaf's brow twitched in annoyance, but she didn't lose her temper – yet. "Strange things have been happening," she said slowly. "It's hard to explain . . . the girl seems to be emitting a strange aura, while her dragon is very wary of her surroundings."_

_ Wind sighed. "Leaf, I know you are a compassionate one," she began, "But this does not concern us, and it does most certainly not concern you. I speculate that you will waste away worrying about this trite subject. If it did, Star would surely –"_

_ Leaf snapped._

_ "Does _she_ trust Star? No! So _why_ should _he_ be concerned with _her_?! Think about it, Wind, just _think_! If something bad happened to her, it would benefit him–!"_

_ The Spirit let out a choked breath when Wind's stare suddenly became far more intense, fingers twitching at her side. "That is not true, Leaf," she growled. "And you know it."_

_ Leaf lowered her gaze, feebly saying, "Yes . . . I do know, but I am not sure where my trust lies. Wind, I am new to this position . . . but I want to look after the girl. I feel like she's partially my responsibility, ever since what happened five years ago."_

_ She raised her eyes defiantly. "I saved her and her friends," she insisted. "I did something no Spirit believed I could do – myself included. I helped them with the power of Light . . ."_

_ Wind's face became unsettled. "That was a mysterious scenario," she agreed. "But, you must look at things realistically, Leaf. You are _very_ new – and you are certainly not strong enough to meddle in others' affairs. Pardon my opinion on the matter, but you will overuse your powers if you try to assist in any mortal problems at the moment – and you know the consequences."_

_ Leaf shuddered. "I don't want to die . . ." she whispered quietly._

_ "Then don't," Wind said simply. "Keep to your own element until you are ready."_

_ Leaf was crestfallen. Wind could not help the girl, after all. "Thank you for your time," she murmured halfheartedly, turning and beginning to float away. She wasn't sure what she would do now . . . perhaps tell Earth what had happened–?_

_ "Leaf."_

_ She paused._

_ Wind took a deep, struggling breath. "If . . . if you feel as if you _truly_ need to help her," she began, almost guiltily, "Then I would advise . . . going to Ocean."_

_ Leaf's eyes widened in both shock and terror. "B-but–"_

_ "Do you think I do not know myself?" Wind interrupted, casting her eyes away. "I can tell that you will not rest until you have done something to console your worry. To help you so as to ensure you will be alright, I shall assist in watching over the girl." Leaf could barely give a gasp of _really?!_ before Wind spoke again._

_ "If you would like even more help, ask Cloud. He may be more hard-hearted than I, but he would never turn his back onto someone that would suffer such a terrible fate if he did not help."_

_ "Th-thank you, Wind!" Leaf cried weakly, turning to face her elder Spirit with grateful eyes. "I am in your debt."_

_ Wind gave a soft smile, but offered no words in return._

_ However, after Leaf had vanished from that spot, she realized something that changed all the optimistic thoughts in her head._

_ Wind had implied that the girl "would suffer such a terrible fate"._

_Perhaps Wind _had_ already been watching over the girl after all–_

_ And perhaps she had caught something that Leaf had missed._

_ Forebodings flooding her mind, Leaf hastily went to her orb._

~˜~ § ~˜~

"It's a pretty close game!" Valka called from the main platform, Cloudjumper right beside her. "Astrid now has three, putting her in lead, with Hiccup and Fishlegs following with two, and Blizzard and Snotlout with one each! Just one more sheep to be found before the black sheep is released!"

Blizzard grit her teeth as she heard the announcement, zipping past the grandstands. "C'mon, Dawny," she muttered, tightening her grip on her dragon's scales and pressing herself closer. "We gotta find that last sheep . . . you take me around, and I'll keep an eye out for it."

Dawny hissed in agreement, tucking her legs closer to her in an effort to make herself faster. Blizzard caught a glimpse of Hiccup and Toothless scouring the village as well, and she briefly mused that the Night Fury's vision would be much better than her own.

Her theory proved to be correct, as Toothless swooped elegantly down out of sight and came back up, a sheep held in his black claws.

Blizzard immediately nudged her dragon. "To Toothless!" she ordered. She knew that everyone would be thinking the same thing, and desperately tried to come up with a strategy. Unfortunately, she didn't know the others well enough to predict their own . . .

"Try to go above him," the blood-redhead instructed, Dawny all-too-willing to comply. The UnderIce shot herself upwards, above the altitude of their competition, before straightening out and slowly catching up to the dragon-in-question. Out of the corner of her eye, Blizzard saw Ruffnut and Tuffnut quickly gaining on them as well, not to mention Astrid.

She growled. "Okay, Dawny, we've gotta do this carefully," she warned. "Three more are to the left of us . . . and I'd assume that more will come to the right. But they're all below us, so if you can fly faster than we don't have anything to worry about. Careful–!" Dawny swerved unexpectedly, remembering just in time that the course curved there and circled above the ocean. "If you can get to Toothless's blind side then twist under him, I'll be able to grab the sheep from his claws. Your wingspan is a bit wider than Toothless's, so you'll have to tuck your wings in. That'll be the tricky part . . . keeping up-to-speed with him _and_ taking the sheep . . ."

Dawny cooed worriedly. They were almost close enough to Hiccup and Toothless.

An idea, albeit a rather unlikely one, sparked.

"Dawny," Blizzard said, quieter so as not to be heard, "If I grab the sheep just in time, and if you fall back by closing your wings, the weight will probably pry the sheep from Toothless. I have to keep a good grip on you, though . . . think you could make sure I don't get lifted off?"

Dawny didn't respond vocally, but narrowed her mystic silver eyes in concentration. Blizzard felt a surge of adrenaline pulse through her, but she could only acknowledge it for a moment.

She had to put her plan into action.

Dawny expertly swooped underneath Toothless, just narrowly avoiding his whipping tail. With one last surge, she leveled herself with the Night Fury, before tucking her wings in as she had been instructed.

Blizzard tightened her legs around Dawny's sides, stretching forward so much it _ached_ . . . she was _almost . . . there . . ._

_Gotcha!_

Toothless barely had time to react before the turquoise-eyed girl had successfully wrenched the white-wooled sheep from his grasp. He ducked his head down in time to see Dawny fully extending her wings and soaring off to the side, revealing herself and Blizzard to both the Night Fury and Hiccup, both of whom were wearing shocked expressions.

Blizzard allowed a tiny smirk to flit across her features. "Thanks, Hiccu–"

She ended with a scream; Snotlout, in a reckless blaze of attempt, had swooped by with Hookfang and rammed harshly into Dawny and Blizzard, knocking the latter off of the former. Snotlout had completed his task of stealing the sheep, and gone to place the newly-acquired sheep in his personal bin. Blizzard's own had a picture of a dark blue leaf marking it.

_"Blizzard!"_ Hiccup and Astrid – who had been hovering nearby and watching the girl's plan – shouted simultaneously. Dawny limply fell straight down, rendered unconscious, but Blizzard had been thrown a good distance before she, too, began descending –

Right over the ocean.

"Get Dawny!" Hiccup shouted over the wind to Astrid, who immediately nodded and steered Stormfly to the UnderIce. Hiccup didn't bother waiting to see if she accomplished catching her; he immediately twisted his prosthetic foot.

"Go after her, bud!"

Toothless needed no further explanation, and swiftly dove for the rapidly-falling girl. She, meanwhile, had snapped out of her dazed state and stared, wide-eyed, at the ocean water below.

It was blue . . .

_Too_ blue . . . !

Her eyes weren't that color anymore, and she didn't want them to go back–!

_"DAWNY!"_ Blizzard shrieked hysterically, pushing her arms in front of her as she continued falling, as if to make herself stop. _"N-NO! PLEASE! __**DON'T LET ME!"**_

_"Toothless!"_

"WA–!"

Blizzard was cut off mid-wail as Toothless grabbed her with his claws around her waist. She looked up at him, trembling, as Hiccup's own face peered from above.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brow furrowing in concern when he saw tears beginning to stream down from her eyes. Just a moment ago, she had been a lively, competitive girl, eyes ablaze with excitement. Now she looked small, frail, weak . . . and _afraid._

"Y-yeah," she choked out, clutching Toothless's leg tightly as they swooped back to Astrid and Stormfly, who had caught Dawny and were flying her towards a nearby clearing. Toothless followed their lead.

"I-I'm fine."

~˜~ § ~˜~

_How many times have I lied to him?_

_I don't want to continue . . ._

_Why can't I trust him like I did when I first met him . . . when I told him my name?_

~˜~ § ~˜~


End file.
